Angels and Daemons
by Vanguard of Ascension
Summary: Commander Shepard, the paragon of the universe and the vanguard against the reaper threat is more than one would think. We may think we know her story, but it's only the surface of the true woman behind the mask. Slight changes to the flow of the story but overall the same as the game just filling in the gaps that really can't be played.
1. Chapter 1: Feet First into Hell

_**Disclaimer:**_I don't own EA or Bioware. All characters that are cannon to the Mass Effect series are not mine, simply being used for my own nefarious purposes.

Chapter 1: Feet First Into Hell

Commander Katherine Shepard never pegged herself as a day dreamer, and yet she was not fully aware of what happened until a sudden explosion in one of the lower decks jared her back to reality.

"Dee! Status!" Shepard yelled to her combat VI.

"The _Normandy_ is under attack by an unknown enemy. Barriers are down, engineering and the bridge both have multiple hull breaches. Electronics are overloading and causing ship-wide fires. All crew are currently evacuating." Delta, her combat VI, replied in it's deep mechanical voice.

Shepard processed all of this and quickly slapped her hardsuit on. With her hard-suit on she rushed over to the main battery. Luckily, the launcher for the ships various beacons still functioned. Shepard quickly typed in the codes to launch the Normandy's distress beacon. The rational part of her brain told her that this attack against her ship wouldn't end well no matter what she did. She shoved that thought to the back of her mind. Shepard was never one to quit even when all seemed hopeless; she still pressed on, her success in the Skyllian Blitz was proof of that.

"Shepard!" the voice of her lieutenant Kaidan Alenko called out behind her over the blaring sounds of the ship wide alarms.

"Beacon is being launched. I take it Joker's not leaving?"

"No he's not, and neither am I." Kaiden replied with duty and defiance filling his voice.

"I need you to get everyone off this boat, Alenko. I'm not letting anyone die on my watch. You get the rest of the ship cleared and get out. I'll deal with Joker."

Even though his face was hidden behind his helmet Shepard knew he was about to protest.

"I gave you an order soldier!" Shepard snapped at him. She may not have liked taking on the aura of a hard assed leader but in a combat zone it got things done.

"Aye aye Ma'am." Kaiden replied still hesitant but ran off to do as he was ordered.

Shepard rushed off behind him but headed to the port side stairs leading to the bridge in place of the escape pods to the aft of the ship. Biotic energy sprung to her command and flowed into her legs increasing her speed. In no time at all Shepard reached the bridge, any air that was left in the crew deck rushed out as the last air vented. Her mag boots automatically activated however, she had had no time for the near molasses pace that came with using mag boots. Shepard made Delta turn the magnets in the boots off freeing her of all but the faintest gravity that still clung to the ship while the ships engines tried to keep gravity active on low power. Still filled with biotic energy and the lack of much gravity on the deck made her journey to the cockpit much shorter, completing it in only a few long bounces.

"Come on Joker! We need to go!" Shepard yelled out to her pilot having reached the cockpit.

"No! I can still save her! I just…" He never got a chance to finish.

"The _Normandy'_s lost Jeff. Wasting your life going down with her won't change that." Shepard wasn't sure what did it, the usage of Joker's real name or the concerned mothering tone her voice took on.

"Alright, help me up." He replied accepting her words for the truth they held.

The deck rocked violently as whoever or whatever was attacking them made another pass.

"AH! Watch the arm!" Joker yelled out in pain when Shepard roughly grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his chair.

Shepard had no time to apologize for the broken arm she had likely just given him, people with brittle bones were easier for her to harm than other humans with her strength and the biotic energy that still flowed through her. Shepard shoved Joker into the bridge's escape pod making sure he was secured in before she even sat down.

Shepard was suddenly thrown out of the pod, the renewed attack having caused another explosion. She cursed realizing that this wouldn't have happened had she left her mag boots active.

"Shepard!" Joker called out. She saw him trying to unstrap himself to try and help her.

"Dee! Seal and launch his pod!"

"Yes Ma'am." Delta replied. Shepard watched Joker's pod seal and launch as she asked.

Another explosion rocked the _Normandy_. Shepard was once again thrown about, her back hitting the bulkhead behind her. Hard. She started spinning out into the black, away for the ship and towards the planet below. She quickly used her biotics to slow then stop her spin.

"Hardsuit air seals cracked. Sealing them. Stand by."

"Air tubes have been sealed. I am sorry Commander but there is only 20 minutes of air left." For once she actually thought that Delta's voice had an amount of concern in it. She quickly shoved that thought aside. Delta was a mere VI not an AI, the Alliance never would have given her one even if it was legal to have in Council space, otherwise there would have been no reason for her to be apart of a team.

"What's the status on the rest of the crew?" Shepard asked, the lives of her crew and friends came before hers. Always.

"I am picking up all pods, all but Mr. Moreau's are full to capacity."

"Thank god." She mumbled under her breath. "Alright lets see if I can survive an orbital fall."

"I would not recommend that course of action Commander. The likelihood of you surviving entry into the planet's atmosphere is…"

"Never stopped me before." Shepard yelled and she pulled a nearby hull plate to her.

Grabbing onto the hull plate Shepard could not help but grin as she thought of the lecture she would get from Garrus next time she saw him. Once again using her biotics Shepard pushed herself and her makeshift heat shield into the planet's orbit and felt herself quickly being pulled to it.

Her plan worked, but not for long. The planet's gravity was higher than she expected and the atmosphere wreaked havoc on her electronics. By the time she discarded the hull plate it was too late to slow herself down.

Her senses however, had other things in mind for her last moments. Shepard had faced death down before and had always come out on top This time she knew there would be no escaping the cruel hand fate had dealt her. nothing compared to the dread she had felt. Shepard had grown up as a navy kid, never having to time to become "normal" and that hadn't slowed her down, only made her more determined to excel. Her mother was never around as much as either of them liked but that did nothing to stop her either. Being flooded with Ezzo radiation as a young teen had given her the biotic power she had now. Unlike others she didn't fear being labeled as a biotic, but embraced it and turned it into a strength not a weakness or a disease like so many other humans. Even the event that was traumatic to all those involved on the ground on Elysium seemingly hadn't phased her. Elysium, the main and only world to be attacked in the Skyllian Blitz was Shepard's defining moment as a soldier and the first in a long list of successful military operations. On Elysium Shepard was on leave when he Batarians, a race of four-eyed slavers, attacked. Despite the hundreds maybe even thousands of Batarians Shepard slaughtered defending the civilians of Elysium she came out of the ordeal with only a broken arm, a mild concussion and a few new scars from grazed bullets and knife wounds.

Not even facing down Saren, the rouge turian Spectre had done much to stop the machine of a woman that is Commander Shepard. Shepard's mind lingered on her most recent mission, her hunt for Saren In her mind's eye she saw glimpses of one of the happiest times of her life. Shepard saw her friend Wrex, His weathered scared face grinning with battle lust. The large older krogan that was a wealth of knowledge and advice for her.

Shepard saw her friend Tali'Zorah. Despite being one of the space nomadic quarians and thus being forced to live in an environment suit her whole life except for in the cleanest of clean rooms, Shepard and Tali had become close. To all but Shepard, Tali was shy and withdrawn, Shepard pulled Tali out of her shell and even got her to talk about mundane things. Things Shepard hadn't talked about much since her childhood, things like boys, music, bands, Boys in said bands and other things of the "girly" sort. Shepard and Tali had become as close to sisters as two could get without being actual sisters. They each leaned on each other and were the feminine influences to each other they each sought out on a ship of almost all males.

She saw her friend Ashley William, a Gunnery-Sergeant and a soldier to the core. Ash was an attractive woman with dark hair that was usually pulled up into a bun. Ash's looks were where the woman of her stopped and the soldier began, she wasn't much like any woman shepard had met. Ash was a very strongly willed person and the only part Shepard ever got to know of her was the soldier air she held when Shepard was in the room. She was the only loss her team had suffered, but it didn't make the blow hit home any less. Shepard had been forced to make a choice no one should need to make but one that all leaders were forced to. Shepard had been forced to chose between Ash and Kaidan on one of their missions while hunting Saren.

Kaidan Alenko was another of the soldiers under her command but unlike Ash he was closer to a little brother than Shepard cared to admit. In the end she was forced to chose, and it nearly destroyed her making that choice. Kaiden is one of the few biotics Shepard had seen with a knack for tech as well as combat skills and competent use of biotics.

She saw Liara's smiling face. It was rare for Shepard to see liara without a smile on her face, at first Shepard had no clue why. It wasn't until much later that Shepard realized that the young, naive asari wanted more from Shepard than to be just friends. Shepard had been stunned and blindsided. It wasn't that Liara was a woman or even that she was an asari that caught Shepard off guard. It was the total suddenness of it. Other than being perpetually happy any time Shepard was around Liara had never given any hint that Shepard could see as to her desire. Shepard had admitted that she wasn't very good that the whole "romance" thing and let Liara down gently managing to keep their friendship intact at the same time.

Shepard's mind finally rested on her closest friend Garrus Vakarian. Shepard and Garrus were two of a kind. Both were great soldiers, both had the leadership traits in them, and unfortunately both were a bit thick headed. Garrus had quickly become her best friend and most trusted ally. Towards the end of their journey Shepard had come to realize that Garrus was more to her than just her best friend, she however had no clue as to what "more" ment. Garrus is a turian and despite the bad blood between the turians and humans the two became close. Garrus always had her back both in and out of combat. In a fight Garrus saved her life dozens of times picking off enemies that had flanked her with his sniper rifle while she waded into their foes with her biotics and shotgun. During down time Garrus was her support when things went to hell, keeping her spirits up with jokes and just being there if she needed him. After Ash's death Shepard had needed him more than she'd admit to him. After She was forced to sacrifice Ash, Shepard had spent time sparring with Garrus working off stream and making a game out of it. They agreed that the loser of each round would owe the other a drink next time they had down time. They ended it completely even by the time they arrived at Ilos and the last leg of their journey.

Shepard felt her mouth turn into a smile at the memory. The smile was full of happiness at the memory, sadness and regret at the knowledge of what was to come.

"Looks like I'll owe ya Garrus." Shepard mumbled, the ground rushing up to met her.

Shepard hit the planet with enough force to create a small crater around her now mangled body. Her hardsuit shattered and absorbed much of the impact but not enough. The chest peice of her armor turned to dust as it took the brunt of the impact. Her chest was on fire as her ribs shattered upon striking the frozen ground of the felt the fragments of her ribs puncture her heart and lungs. In her last breaths she clung to the memories of Garrus before darkness swept over her. Her mind faded into darkness and death embraced her.

* * *

It wasn't the first time in his life where Garrus Vakarian felt wrong. It wasn't the usual feeling of being a "bad turian" as he had so often told his friends and shipmates on the Normandy. It wasn't the lack of duty, real responsibility or it was more a feeling of something being missing from both his life and the galaxy as a whole. He couldn't quite put his talon on what it was that was nagging at the back of his mind, but he was at least able to not dwell on it with his most recent case in C-sec. Garrus absently ran a hand over his fringe, the spiked plates that protected his head, as he tried to pin down what had been bugging him that day. The odd feeling he had was not just a nag in the back of his mind, but a feeling of something that had gotten under the hard metallic carapace that covered his leathery skin.

It had been nearly a week since he had said his temporary farewells to the friends he had made in his time aboard the ship he had come to call his home. It felt strange to admit it but Garrus felt more at home on a human ship with a mixed race crew than he had in his family home on Palaven. After his departure from the Normandy he had gone back to his old job in Citadel Security but it was still nothing like what he had become used to while hunting down Saren with Shepard.

Shepard. His mind dwelled on her and he couldn't think why in the hells he would. Shepard was his friend and comrade in arms. A bit more reckless with her own life than he liked but the two of them had made quite the team, add in the power house that was Wrex or the skills of Kaidan and they were nigh unstoppable.

There had been rumors on board the ship that there was something going on between Shepard and either Liara or Kaidan and for some reason (another thing he couldn't pin down) he was more unsettled by them than he should've been. These rumors, and subsequently his unsettlement, were dashed as on the final stretch of their mission starting with their race to Ilois Shepard had come to spar and work out stress with him in the cargo hold instead of working it off in other ways with her, what did humans call them? Suiters?

In the end other than some scrapes and bruises everyone but Ashley made it out alright. Garrus could tell that a lot of what Shepard needed to work off was her rage and grief at the loss of one of their friends and crew mates.

Garrus was forced out of dwelling on all this when he finally reached his apartment. He found that he was not alone as well. Standing outside his door leaning against the wall next to it was a tall man. Garrus' instincts cried out for him to snap up his pistol at the man until he saw who it was. Standing outside his door was non other than the human Councilor, David Anderson. Shepard's old mentor and friend.

The look on Anderson's face made Garrus' heart sink. Anderson's entire being conveyed a sense of regret and sorrow, both for what Garrus knew he was about to say and that it was even about to be said. Garrus motioned for Anderson to follow him into his apartment, not wishing this to be overheard and not trusting his voice either.

"I'm sorry I need to say this son, but you were the closest to Shepard and she spoke highly of you. I didn't want you to hear this over the news. Hell I had never thought anyone would ever need to hear this." Anderson spoke, his tone matching his entire demeanor.

Garrus nodded fearing that his voice would give away how hard this was hitting him.

"I'm sorry son. Today at 0700 hours the _Normandy_ was attacked by an unknown vesile. Only five people did not survive the attack. Shepard was among the last to leave the ship but she is Missing In Action, and is presumed dead."

Anderson paused, to try and compose himself.

"I felt it best you hear this from mean and not from a vid."

Garrus was shocked. He had never thought it was possible for Shepard to be killed. She had seemed like the kind of person that was an ever lasting part of the galaxy, one that would be there always. Garrus felt Anderson's sympathetic hand on his shoulder before leaving him to his thoughts.

While Garrus processed all this held felt as if half his soul had been stolen from him. He didn't know how long he sat there, but by the time he come back aware of the reality he still refused to accept it was light out once more.

* * *

The week between Anderson's visit and Shepard's memorial service went by in a dull, numb blur for Garrus. Until he heard it from Joker and watched the man as he told Garrus and the others of what happened could he finally accepted that his friend was gone. Joker looked like a man that was visibly defeated and wouldn't look Garrus in the eye, proving that Joker felt it was his fault that Shepard died. Garrus knew this wasn't true after seeing how Shepard always put her crew and friends' needs and wants and even lives above her own.

The memorial to Shepard was a joke. Garrus and the others all agreed that it was just Shepard being ceremonially swept under the rug and made a hero for the Alliance to use. The Council had seen to it that Shepard would be remembered, but not for what she had truly done. The Council had the nerve to claim that Shepard had saved them from a geth attack and not the first battle in the war against the Reapers, a race of sentient machines that wanted everyone in the galaxy dead. As for the memorial, it was really just a political move for the Council to actually accept David Anderson as the first human Councilor. As for the Alliance they took Shepard's image and used it for recruiting ads. Garrus couldn't walk 10 feet without seeing some sort of propaganda with Shepard's face on it.

The memorial itself was nothing like Shepard would have wanted. it was rows upon rows of "fans" of Shepard all crying at the loss of their hero. The only ones that Garrus had paid any mind to was those that actually knew Shepard. Her friends and comrades and her mother. The memorial Shepard would have wanted, Garrus thought, was one of her friends laughing and sharing stories of her over pitches of drinks not the "service" she was given. The public memorial that was held for Shepard was an empty casket with a podium next to it for any that wanted to speak about her. Garrus thought it only fitting that, though he was given some odd looks, played the role of honor guard throughout the entire service only time he moved from his place to the left of the casket was to speak with Shepard mother. Garrus invited her to the crew's own memorial later that night which she had accepted. The crew did what they all knew Shepard would have preferred, which was to party and reminisce about Shepard's life and not her death. By the end of the night Garrus had ended up comforting Shepard's mother as she released her sorrow to the one person Shepard had trusted the most. Garrus had thought that maybe she would turn to Tali or, more likely held it in until she was alone. The elder Shepard gave Garrus a sad smile that a mother gives to a child that lost a loved one or a lover not of someone that lost a close friend. Garrus puzzled over this for quite some time but could never figure out why. The elder shepard never offered any answers so he didn't bother asking.

Roughly a year after the memorial Garrus finally lost it. He was fed up with all the red tape and garbage that was the illusion of the Citadel. Even while being apart of the training to become a Spectre, by Shepard's earlier recommendation, Garrus could no long stand to live on the place that swept his friend and it's hero under the rug like so much dust.

Garrus left the Citadel in pursuit of Omega in order to do the good he wanted but couldn't on the Citadel. Omega was lawless and thus he had free reign to do as he saw fit.

* * *

Every ounce of her being was floored with pain. This however, wasn't anything like she had felt before. This was total and absolute death pleading pain, even for someone of her background that was able to withstand weeks of torture. Her mind was flooded with this pain and she tried to beg for release back into the warm embrace of peace that she had been so rudely ripped from. Nothing of her body would obey her commands. She faintly heard frantic voices about her before her mind slipped back into the bliss that was unconsciousness.

* * *

"My god! Miranda, I think she's waking up!" She heard a masculine voice a couple meters to her right.

"Damn it! She's not ready. Give her another dose." This time it was a harsher voice, one of power, demands, and command. This voice held a mild Australian accent to it and was the voice of a woman in high power.

She tried to open her eyes and was met heavy resistance from her lids, but they slowly obeyed. She only was able to catch a glimpse of a woman. This woman, who Shepard assumed was Miranda, apparently saw her and leaned over her, whispering soothing words in a much more pleasant tone. She had no time to do anything before her mind once more faded into unconsciousness.

* * *

A/N:

Thank you for reading the first chapter in my first ME fanfic. (My first published fanfic as well)

Please let me know what you think, what I could do differently and if you have any suggestions please leave them! I'm more than happy to receive any and all criticism.

As for how this story will go it will be written and released along side my most recent play through of Mass Effect, starting in ME 2. The story will mostly be written about the time in between missions aside for some missions that I really enjoy.


	2. Chapter 2: Back Again

Chapter 2: Back Again

Unlike the last few times she had managed to swim back into wakefulness, this most recent try was met with little resistance. However, unlike the times she remembered this was not the slow pace of someone waking from a deep sleep.

Shepard was jarred awake when she felt a massive explosion go of in an area near her. She was brought fully awake by a combination of the shaking of the entire facility around and finding herself thrown to the floor as the medical bed she had been on tipped and fell over from the force of the vibrations.

"What the hell is going on?" Shepard asked aloud to herself as she scanned the room she was in.

The last thing she had remembered from before was the pain from hitting the planet. Was this reality and that just a dream? Or was this the hell that everyone spoke about? Whatever this was it certainly wasn't Heaven, not that she expected to go there anyways after some of the things she'd done.

A voice came over the speakers hidden in the room forcing Shepard away from darker thoughts. Shepard vaguely recalled the voice from the last time she woke up. Miranda she thought her name was.

"Shepard! Good you're up. Listen. We don't have much time, this station is under attack we need to get you out of here."

_Ok definitely not an enemy, if she was I'd be dead by now. Whatever might as well humor her._ Shepard thought to herself.

"Shepard, there's a set of armor for you in the locker nearby along with a pistol. Get suited up and follow the green lights. My position is not secure I need to move. I'll meet with you in the hanger." Miranda spoke again her tone more hurried this time. Gunfire rang out over the speakers before they fell silent.

_Well that can't be good. Looks like I need to play hero again if I want some answers._ Shepard thought moving to get suited as instructed.

The armor was a nice thought, but Shepard hated it. It was heavier than what she was used to and too restrictive for her tastes. The only part of the armor she liked was the Kuwashii Visor that took the place of a traditional helmet, she was instantly reminded of Garrus and the custom version he owned while putting it on. The pistol in the locker wasn't anything to write home about. It was a simple M-3 Predator, durable and reliable, meant to take a beating and still work but it lacked the punch that she liked in a Carnifex or a Phalanx. There was one major flaw though with the contents of the locker.

"There's no clip. What the hell do these people think I'm going to do? beat people to death with this? It's not even heavy enough on it's own to do that!"

Shepard holstered the gun and made her way out of the lab that she was in. Once out of the lab on the wall to her left was a set of shelves full to the brim with thermal clips.

"You have got to be kidding me. They couldn't just keep the gun and clips in the same goddamned place?"

Shepard grabbed as many clips as there was room in her armor for, including one for the Predator. She found the green lights that Miranda had told her about and started to follow them. She hadn't taken more than a dozen steps when a combat mech spotted and started firing at her. The mech was an odd looking metal plated human skeleton with a comically over sized head. The head held only one "eye" in the center of it's boxlike face.

Instead of taking cover and taking the mech out with no risk like a typical marine would Shepard did one of the most reckless things people would ever see, one of the things she had gained a reputation for doing. Shepard, wreathed in biotic energy, launched herself at the mech. For the half second it took for Shepard to reach the mech before slamming into it she was only a blur of azure light. The mech went flying as she slammed into it with enough force to break through a reinforced steel wall.

"Holy crap that was awesome! Did these people upgrade my implant of something?" Shepard mulled this over while continuing past the now scrap that was a combat mech, still following the green lights.

Shepard spent a good five minutes following the green lights that marked her path. She made sure that any rooms she passed were clear of potential threats. In some of these rooms she even found open data caches that she proceeded to copy onto her suites omni-tool, maybe something in them could tell her what was going on later.

Eventually Shepard heard the sounds of combat coming from up ahead of her. Shepard moved up to the door where the sounds of gunshots and flaring biotics were coming from. She double checked to make sure she had her warp ammo loaded. Upon checking the room from behind the cover of the door frame Shepard was greeted by a group of combat mechs on the opposite side of the room firing on a man in cover not far from the door.

"Keep your head down!" Shepard called out rushing forward, sending a biotic shockwave into the mechs. The shockwave caused some of them to stumble and she dropped one mech with a double tap headshot.

"Shepard! Figures Miranda has you up and about already. I'm almost out of clips and my head is pounding from using my biotics. With you here we should be able to get out of here in one piece." The man's voice was deep and had the air about him of a professional soldier. Whether he is or was Shepard couldn't tell.

"Got enough in you for a few pulls?" Shepard asked glancing over their cover of crates seeing there were only a few mechs left standing.

The man nodded. "Yeah but just barely."

"Good. Pull the front two on my mark. I'll make short work of these."

The man nodded again, the azure glow of biotics springing into his hands.

"Alright. 3…. 2…. 1…. Mark."

The man leaned out of cover to pull the two mechs as asked.

Once they were in the air Shepard jumped completely out of cover and charged the closest mech. The resulting biotic explosion of the colliding mass effect fields was near deafening. Even more so when the explosion triggered the same effect on the other pulled mech. The combined effect was astounding. Not only were the pulled mechs tossed about like rag dolls but the other three mechs were slammed into the wall behind them. The mechs all but shattered like broken glass.

"Alright I saved your skin, now I need some answers." Shepard spoke turning around and walking back of to the man, fully taking him in and seizing him up.

He was dark skinned and average in height and looks. His build, from what Shepard could tell from beneath the strange cloth/armor suit he wore, was muscular and lean. He carried himself with the air and posture of a soldier as his tone had pointed out. As Shepard walked up he broke into a grin, from his body language Shepard could tell he was the straight forward kind of person especially in showing such raw emotion to a near stranger.

"Haha. Fair enough. Name's Jacob Taylor. I'm the head of security on the station and Miranda Lawson's second in command. If you're up and kicking ass like that I take it you have at least heard from Miranda. Knowing her she probably told you to go somewhere. So, what do you want to know?"

Shepard noted Jacob's easy stance that was both relaxed and ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"What is this place? Last thing I remember was hitting an ice planet after the Normandy was attacked. Was I dreaming that? or did that really happen?"

A grim look crossed over Jacob's face.

"You're remembering right. Last thing that happened to you before Miranda got to you was that the _Normandy_ was attacked and destroyed. All but some of the crew from the bridge made it out alive. You made it off the ship but impact on the planet Alchera did you in. You died due to severe internal bleeding caused by your shattered skeleton. For the most part your hardsuit kept you in one piece. That was just over two years ago, for most of that time Miranda has been rebuilding you, using the best biotech available."

"Two-two years?" Shepard choked out.

"I'm sorry Commander, this can't be easy to hear but it's the truth." Another explosion rocked the station. "Shit, we need to get you to wherever it is that Miranda had you headed in the first place. She'll be able to give you all the details. Lead the way."

Shepard nodded and glanced around quickly finding a door lit in green lights. A few minutes and another pack of combat mechs later and there was static coming over Jacob's omni-tool.

"Check….Check…. Is - one on this- quency?" the voice was vaguely familiar to Shepard.

"Wilson? Is that you?" Jacob replied to the voice pulling out his omni-tool, likely to try and get a better signal.

"Jacob?" the man came in again, this time clear of static "Where are you?"

"I'm in D-wing with Shepard. You know what's going on?"

"Shepard's alive?! How..? Nevermind we need to get out of here. Wait… SHIT!" Gunfire rang out over the connection. "The mechs! they're trying to kill me! Help!"

"Wilson! Where are you!"

"Server room B! Hurry!" Wilson's voice was laced with pain.

"Come on! It's not far." Jacob called out to Shepard taking the lead.

Shepard followed Jacob as they quickly made their way to the server room. Sure enough the bald man that Shepard had glimpsed earlier was on the floor behind the cover of stacked crates. A nasty gunshot wound just above his knee was leaking blood onto the floor. A lone mech was on the other side of the cretes slowly moving over to finish the job it had started. It never had the chance as Shepard quickly squeezed off a few rounds into the mechs head taking it out before it could react.

"Quick! there's some medi-gel in the first-aid station!" the man on the ground, obviously Wilson, called out after hearing the mech drop.

Shepard rushed over and grabbed all the medi-gel she could and quickly went to applying it to Wilson's wound.

"Ha" Wilson chuckled nervously, tension still in his body but the pain was visibly fading as Shepard applied the medi-gel. "Never thought you'd save my life Shepard. Guess this makes us even."

Wilson, with Shepard help, stood up, a bit unsteady at first but nothing he apparently couldn't handle.

"I came over here soon as I could once they started attacking. Thought I might be able to fix this." Wilson told Jacob nervously. Shepard could tell he was hiding something and didn't trust him, he seemed the type that was likely to put a knife in your back if he could gain from it.

"We didn't ask what you were doing here. How do you even have mech clearance? You were in the bio wing." Another explosion this one not as large as the ones before but they reminded Jacob that this wasn't the best time. "Whatever we can figure this out later. Let's get out of here. the hangar bay is close."

Shepard lead the way again. They only had to take a few sets of stairs down until they found themselves at the hangar bay.

_Surprise surprise, more bloody mechs. What is with these people and their love of mechs? Too cheap to hire mercs? At least mercs are a challenge._

Shepard once more charged into the mechs sending two of them flying over the hangar edges. She made quick work of the rest with quick kicks and punches, all powered with biotics, sending the rest over the closest edge.

"Come on, the shuttles are just over here." Wilson called out hobbling over to a door on the far side of the room.

The trio reached the door and as Wilson began attempting to unlock it, the door quickly opened. The open door revealed the same woman Shepard had seen standing over her one of the times she had tried waking up.

"Miranda? What..? You're supposed to be.." Wilson never got the chance to finish his thought. Miranda quickly pulled her own pistol on him and shot him, square between the eyes.

Shepard's own pistol was drawn and trained on Miranda without any thought as the other woman proceeded to holster her own gun.

"Miranda?! What the Hell did you just do?!" Jacob voiced his surprise, both shocked and alarmed that this happened.

The wires in Shepard's head clicked, What with Wilson's tension at herself and now Miranda being alive, the dots were all connected for her. Shepard holstered her gun but kept her eye on Miranda she was still an unknown to her.

"Isn't it obvious? Wilson caused all this. I gave him what he had coming." Miranda turned her attention to Shepard. "Commander. My boss would like to speak with you, just not here we should leave now before anything else happens."

Shepard nodded. "Fine but I expect some answers to all this. I think I've had enough of this place to last a life time."

Miranda smirked. "Or two in your case."

* * *

Nothing ever went as planned. Garrus Vakarian learned this the hard way and not for the first time. It seemed that for Garrus the universe had it's own plan for him that never lined up with his own plans. Everything from his leaving C-sec to hunt down a rogue Spectre, on a human ship no less, to his leaving civilization behind to become a scourge to the wicked on Omega. Even his stay on Omega for the last year wasn't even close to what he expected.

Over the recent months Garrus had spent his time hunting down and devastating or even outright destroying entire criminal operations stationed on the lawless space station that was Omega. The locals that didn't face the brunt of his wrath had taken to naming him 'Archangel', some even had the guts to join up with him to try and make a difference on their home. This "team" that had formed around him was what had been throwing wrenches into his system the last few months. Now was no different.

A few hours ago one of his team, a turian named Lantar Sidonis, contacted him saying him had a job and it was big. Sidonis had asked to meet with Garrus to talk about it in depth and sent him the location and time for the meet up. The meeting was supposed to happen well over an hour ago and Garrus was getting impatient. He had a nagging feeling that something was very, very wrong.

Before Garrus could start treading down the dark path of thoughts of betrayal, his omni-tool beeped at him, notifying him of an incoming call. He only needed a glance at the name of the caller before he answered. As per the norm for his team it was audio only.

"Vakarian where are you?!" the frantic voice of Melanis called out over the com connection. The sounds of gunfire nearly drowned out the female turian's voice.

"Mel! What's going on? Where's Sidonis?" Garrus replied, anger and concern both managing to be mixed in his voice. He may not have wanted a team that followed him in his acts of "justice" but he had grown to care for them all the same.

"Erash! keep your head down damn it!" Melanis paused and Garrus heard gunfire over the comm. "I don't know where he is, we thought he was with you. Listen we need your help, the Blue Suns are attacking our hide-out and have us pinned down. Get here quick." The com line went dead before he could respond.

Cursing under his breath Garrus ran back in the direction of his team's hide-out. It wasn't much but the apartment they had taken as their own was in a good defensible position. The building had four entrances, but only one of them was easily assessable. Said entrance was a long wide bridge with absolutely no cover. The other three were all back doors from the allies on the level below the building. All three of them funneled into a choke point in the building's basement. Garrus prayed to the Spirits that it would be enough for his team to hold out until he got there. Garrus ran faster than he ever had before in his life, adrenaline filling his veins and increasing his already fast run into a near all out sprint.

When Garrus turned onto the boulevard that his team's base was off of he was met with a startling surprise. Mercs were swarming the street. What was even more astounding and frightening was the fact that it was not only the Blue Suns there. The street was filled with members from all three of Omega's major merc groups. The Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood Pack all had members there. Garrus dived back around the corner he had just turned before anyone could potentially spot him.

_Son of a bitch. Alright looks like I need to use plan B._

Garrus always had a backup plan. Since starting his time on Omega those plans formed into backdoors and escape routes to and from nearly every level on the station. This was a major reason in choosing the location he did for his base of operations. It would take him much longer to use one of the routes through the back doors but it was the only way in that wouldn't be swarmed in mercs.

It took Garrus much longer than he had thought it would to reach the closest backdoor. Time seemingly crawled by for the near thirty minutes it took him to maneuver around groups of mercs so as to not be caught before he could do anything to help his team. When he reached the entrance however, he found he was not the only person that knew it was there.

Upon turning the last corner to the hideout Garrus was greeted with a group of Blood Pack. Ducking back around the corner he counted at least half a dozen vorcha and at least one krogan that he could see.

_Blood Pack, why did it have to be Blood Pack? _

To most of the galaxy the vorcha and krogan where the scum of the universe. In most cases they were right about the plated reptilian race known for their rage and brutality The krogan earned that reputation time and time again. As for the vorcha it was always true. The rat-like race that was known as the vorcha were every bit like their Earth counterparts. As Shepard had explained to him before, rats, like vorcha, liked anywhere and everywhere, and the vorcha breed even faster. The vorcha were barely evolved enough to comprehend anything more than instinct, and their primal nature showed in everything they did, even their appearance showed it.

Garrus unslung his Vindicator Assault Rifle off his back and flipped on it's armor piercing ammo. Not wasting a second Garrus leaned around the corner and began firing into the vorcha in front of him sweeping the Vindicator in an arc at head level to the vorcha. Three of them went down each taking a round to the back of the head as the burst caught them unawares. Another two fell to Garrus' deadly aim as they turned around to engage him. The last two vorcha and the lone krogan began charging him, but not before Garrus felled another vorach and caught the last in the shoulder briefly staggering him. Garrus fired a final burst at the last vorcha catching it center of mass before diving away from the krogan that crashed into the space he'd been in not a second before.

Garrus fired off a burst at the krogan who was now turning to face him again, probably for another charge. Garrus caught a glimpse of the other side of the krogan and his eyes widened. From the way he had just come a horde of vorcha were rushing towards him and the krogan.

_Damned vorcha. Kill one and a dozen take its place._

Garrus fired a burst from his Vindicator into the krogan's knee temporarily crippling it. Garrus ran into his base from the alley. When he reached the door he slammed it shut and triggered the locks. With vorcha however, it was only a matter of time before the sheer number of them would break the door down. Garrus pulled up his omni-tool and triggered the explosives planted along the alleyway. He set the timers on them for sixty seconds before heading deeper into the base. One minute was plenty of time for him to be out of the blast radius and to catch as many of the Blood Pack vorcha as he could.

Garrus sprinted for all he was worth to the main floor of his team's base. He sent a silent prayer to the Spirits that he wasn't too late. Before he reached the main floor Garrus heard sporadic gunfire and the solid thumps as armored bodies fell to the ground above him. The thumps served to both give him hope and fear. He hoped that the thumps were those of mercs falling to his team's fire, he feared that it was just the opposite. Everything went silent after a muffled explosion rocked the floor below him.

When Garrus finally reached the main floor of the apartment this team used as a base, he was met with a gruesome sight. He entered the room that had once served as the main living space for the building, it was now covered in blood and gore. The floor and walls were covered with the reds, blues, purples and oranges of the various bloods of different races. The ground was littered with bodies. He spotted humans, turians, salarians, asari, vorcha and even a few krogan. Garrus felt his eyes widen and his mandibles go slack when he spotted a familiar form amongst all the carnage.

He felt an emptiness he hadn't felt since the night he heard of Shepard's death as he gazed around the room. Dread, sorrow and rage filled his being while he slowly picked out the still forms of his team. Garrus' rage grew as he slowly found eight still forms, each in various states of dismemberment. He was brought out of his rage filled daze by a familiar voice.

"G-Garrus…?" He knew the voice even though it was laced with pain.

His eyes snapped to the owner of the voice and quickly rushed over to the form of one of his team. Meirin, the only asari on his team, was backed up against the wall to Garrus' left near the apartment's stairs. Garrus took in the state of the asari once he reached her. Meirin's armor had a dozen holes in it that he could see, her purple blood flowing out of them. Meirin by asari standers was still young, only in her early two hundreds in a life span of nearly a millennia.

"Wh-what happened?" Garrus asked unable to keep the grief from his sub-vocals.

"S-sidonis…. He b-betrayed us. T-they... wanted us… gone." Meirin coughed out gesturing to the mercs littering the floor around her.

"Listen….. I know… I'm gone for… Mel…. last Isaw…. she wasn't…. hurt that bad. Go… take her… and leave. Don't… don't die… like…. us." Garrus felt the life slipping from his friend and comrade with every word.

"Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess, Meirin. You didn't deserve this."

"Heh… won't… have changed…. this for…. anything."

Garrus watched as Meirin went limp, a small smile on her face.

Heeding Meirin's words Garrus went in search of the last member of his team. Garrus didn't need to look far. Sitting at the top of the stairs was Melanis' still, cold form. Three mercs lay at her feet. She had gone out swinging as any tuarin would, fighting to her last breath. It wasn't enough, the tight grouping of rounds in the dead center of her chest was testament to that.

Garrus fell to his knees at the sight. Rage overcame him. Partially not caring and partially hoping any nearby mercs would hear, he yelled out in rage. He yelled in a deep primal rage. The very sound would have unnerved even the most strong willed soldiers.

* * *

A/N: And second chapter down. Thank you for the reviews, follows and favorites, all are very much appreciated.

I'm currently working on chapter 3. I'm about half done with it now and I have off of school for winter break for the next couple weeks. That being said I'll try and have chapter 3 up next week or early the week after.

I know that other authors do this so I may as well do this too. I plan on updating this with a new chapter every week or every other week. My updates will depend mostly on how much work I end up with for my classes and if my beta reader is able to read them over in a timely fashion. Collage may be worth it in the long run but it sucks hard on free time.

So please let me know what you think. and again any and all comments are welcome. Anything to both improve my writing and to improve the quality of the story are much appreciated. If you have anything you'd like me to touch base on, or even write as a chapter if it's big enough, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

PS. Sorry about the long note. I'll keep them shorter in the future updates.

PSS. I went through and fixed some things that I didn't catch in the first chapter. Nothing changed, just formating and some spelling/grammar errors fixed.


	3. Chapter 3: One Step Closer

Chapter 3: One Step Closer

Shepard, once passing Miranda's "tests" to make sure Shepard was all there, had been taken to yet another space station. This station, from what Shepard could see, was some kind of R&D facility, doing what exactly Shepard couldn't even begin to guess.

The inside of the station was stark white and brightly illuminated. The maze of corridors that Shepard was lead down was mostly devoid of any sort of windows or side passages. Only one of the doors that Shepard was lead past was not closed. The brief glimpse of the room beyond looked to be a lab of some sort, other than that all Shepard saw was white and the backs of Miranda and Jacob.

Those two were an odd pair. Shepard could practically see the tension radiating off them while they walked. They had the kind of tension she had seen rolling off of two that had once been lovers, yet one of them had broken it off. Shepard had first hand experience in that sort of tension. She had experienced it in the short week after Ilos between her and Liara and prior in her military career, before she became the "Daemon of Elysium".

Elysium, that was one place Shepard doubted she could ever go back to. It, like her past relationships, ended in heartache. That pain caused her to start down her path of being a tainted soul. Shepard would never admit it but sometimes she wished she hadn't been on Elysium when it was attacked. Shepard sometimes thought that if she hadn't taken some leave time she could have been on Azuke instead. She thought that maybe she could have been there to save her first lover. She would sometimes feel that if she hadn't been on Elysium then maybe she wouldn't have slaughter countless batarians. Maybe she wouldn't have tried killing herself after being told of her lover's, John's, death. Maybe she wouldn't have lived the life she had. Her thoughts on Elysium had been roughly shoved away when she met her old partner Jane. Meeting Garrus and the rest of her old crew had later helped to push Jane's death from her mind as well. Shepard still felt their loss as any does at the loss of loved ones but she no longer had a death wish. She knew that she really wouldn't have had it any other way if she could relive it all.

Garrus was another thing that kept springing to mind. Shepard, as soon as she stopped being shot at, had been wondering what had become of her friend. When she asked either Jacob or Miranda both claimed they didn't know. They told her that not long after the memorial the Council held for her Garrus fell completely off the grid.

"Commander? We're here." Miranda spoke, breaking Shepard out of her musings.

The Cerberus pair had lead her into a room filled with computer terminals and data servers. On the other side of the room was another door.

Miranda waved a hand towards the door. "The Illusive Man is waiting for you. We'll be out here when you're done."

Shepard nodded and headed through the door seeing she had little choice in the matter.

The door lead to a short flight of stairs, at the bottom of which was a small barren room. The only thing in the room was a raised platform. Shepard had seen prototypes of Quantum Entanglement Communicators before due to her status as an N7. Being the best of the best had it's perks. Shepard figured that this platform was a QEC so, having little other choice, she stepped up onto it. As promised the person on the other end was already waiting.

Once Shepard had fully stepped onto the QEC platform the room around her was replaced with a large spacious room. Almost everything in this room was a glassy black. The only things that had any color to them was the star on the other side of a wall length window Shepard was now facing and the holographic terminals behind the room's lone occupant.

The room's occupant was sitting in a minimalistic chair, made for both comfort and practicality. Shepard couldn't make out much more of the person, the orange glow of the holos and and shifting reds and blues from the star made seeing more than an outline of the man impossible. Shepard heard an intake of breath and watched as the man moved an arm away from his face, the cherry glow of a cigarette faintly outlining the man's hand.

"Shepard" The man breathed out "It's good to see you walking about so soon." His voice was strong and yet weathered with age, the voice of a man of power.

"The Illusive Man I presume?" Shepard asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She had little patience for people that hid in shadows.

The figure nodded. "Miranda filled you in on our situation, yes?" The Illusive Man made it sound more of a statement than the question it was.

"Colonies are going dark. There are no distress calls. All colonies are completely deserted. There are no bodies and no signs of an sort of struggle. And to top it all off the Reapers are in some way shape or form involved but you have no clue as to how they are involved or what they are doing. That sound about right?" Shepard couldn't help but allow her voice to drip with venom.

"I understand you're disliking of my organization after what has happened to you because of us. Now however, is not the time to address those issues. There are larger things at stake here than just you and me, Shepard."

"Fine. Just be glad I know how to put things behind me when it matters. I assume you have something to prove all this? I'm not going to take your word on something this massive." Shepard relaxed both her stance and her tone. Her voice still held a hostile edge to it.

"I'd be disappointed if I could convince you that easily. I have a shuttle waiting to take you to Freedom's Progress, the most recent of our colonies to go dark. If you find evidence that proves it's not the Reapers doing this you are free to return to your old life. No questions asked."

"Why do I get the feeling you're not sending me alone on this either."

"Your right, Shepard. You may be one of the most trust worthy people in the galaxy, but I need to protect my investment as well. I'm sending Jacob and Miranda with you. I've also acquired the services of one Zaeed Massani." The Illusive Man took another drag off of his cigarette. "I also have a better suite of armor for you. The set you're wearing was only meant for emergencies not for permanent use. There is also a rather extensive armory on the station. No point in sending you into a hot zone under equipped."

The Illusive Man took another drag off his cigarette and tapped the ashes off. He waited another breath before continuing.

"Jacob can show you your new armor and our armory, feel free to take anything you want. Once you are sufficiently armed let Miranda know and she will take you to the shuttle." He took another drag. "Good luck, Shepard. And good hunting."

Before Shepard could respond, the connection was cut. The room Shepard was in flashed back into focus.

"Well." Shepard sighed. "This is gonna suck."

* * *

"Here we are Commander. Take your pick. Everything and anything here is open for you to use."

Shepard let out a low whistle. The room Jacob had lead her to was massive. Massive and filled. Filled wall to wall, floor to ceiling row upon row of weapons. Any weapon Shepard could have wanted was there. It wasn't just guns that were there but blades as well. The only part of the room that wasn't covered in shelves and weapon racks was a small area in the front corner of the room. This area was occupied by a large locker, the same kind used to house body armor, and a large table covered in tools and various weapon mods.

Jacob pointed at the armor locker. "Your armor is in there. Take as much time as you need. I'll be right outside if you need anything." With that Jacob saluted Shepard and left.

Once Jacob left the room, Shepard stripped out of the armor she still wore from her awakening. With nothing left on but her under suite Shepard padded over to the locker.

Shepard opened the locker and was greeted with shelves full of various armor pieces. Unlike other armor lockers that held only one set of gear at a time, this locker had enough pieces to make five different sets. In Shepard's case these were all there for her to customize her armor how she wanted. On the inside panel of one of the locker's doors was a screen that gave the image of any piece in the locker and all it's specifications. The Illusive Man may not have known what exactly Shepard would have wanted from the top line armor, but he did know one thing.

Glancing up from the display to start looking at the different headpieces in person, Shepard's eyes were immediately to a small white box. Inside the box shepard found a pair of contacts. Shepard looked over to the display once more and found the information on the contacts.

Shepard found the entry on the contacts. At the start of the entry was a note.

_Shepard,_

_The Illusive Man asked me to get your armor setup for you. However He did not give me your preferences as far as armor goes. There were only really a couple things I could actually do. In each chest piece I've installed a retractable breather helmet. If you'd rather have a different headpiece that's fine but the breathers will be there as a backup. I do know that you prefer black for color, so all pieces are black aside from the N7 stripe on the right arms._

_The last thing I was able to do was the contacts. Even before becoming a Spectre you were famous just under a different name. As such the contacts are tailor made for you. They are exact copies of the ones you had on the previous Normandy aside from the updated tech software._

_Let me know if you need anything,_

_Jacob Taylor_

Shepard smirked after reading the note. It seemed Mr. Taylor knew more than he'd let on. Few people knew about her assignment before being placed under Anderson on the _Normandy_. Most of the people that did know about her past never came into public eye.

_How the hell does he know about that? Hells I never even told my mother about that part of my life._

Shepard made a note to ask Jacob about it later. For now she had "shopping" to do. Shepard took the contacts out of their box and put them in before moving back to the locker.

* * *

After roughly two hours of waiting Jacob watched as Shepard exited the station's armoy. Jacob took in the armored form in front of him slowly starting at Shepard's feet and bringing his gaze up to her eyes. Jacob noted the armor choices Shepard had made. Before seeing her in action Jacob had no clue as to what Shepard would pick. After seeing her close-quarters combat style he had tried taking a guess at what she'd pick. Jacob smiled at seeing that most of his guess had been true.

_N7 greaves. Check. Ammo pouches on the arms. Interesting. Aegis chest plate. Check. Strength booster shoulders. Check. No helmet. Odd but ok._

Jacob's smile widened upon meeting Shepard's eyes. Her pupils were no longer the round irises of a human, but now the slits of a cat's eyes.

He chuckled.

"What?" Shepard asked.

"Nothing. Just glad I made the right choice leaving those in there." Jacob gestured at Shepard's eyes.

"Yeah. Thanks for these by the way. The heads-up-display is pretty close to my preferences too." A mischievous look crossed Shepard's face. "After we're done with this I may need to beat the name of your contact out of you."

"Heh. No need for that." Jacob replied holding up his hands. "I met you in passing once when I was with the Alliance. Your eyes, mostly the pupils, stuck with me. Figured it'd be a gesture of good will towards you to give you them back in a sense. As to the HUD, that was mostly just a guess on my part."

Jacob noted the weapon choices Shepard had made as well.

"So. Two Tempest SMGs, a Scimitar shotgun, a Vindicator assault rifle, a Phalanx heavy pistol, and a Grenade launcher. Got enough fire power there Commander?"

Shepard chuckled. "You've never seen an N7 Destroyer before have you?"

Jacob shook his head no.

"Compared to them, this is a light kit. Those guys are practically walking tanks in every aspect. We Slayers on the other hand need mobility, but we still need to pack a punch for anything thrown at us."

"Fair enough, I've only seen a couple Furies in action myself, so that's what I went off of. So, you ready to head out?"

Shepard sighed. "Yeah, might as well get going while any clues are still some what warm."

Jacob nodded. "Follow me then, Commander."

* * *

_Shepard couldn't believe this was happening. She and her friend Jane had been recruited into the best of the best. The two of them were already initiated into the best the Alliance had to offer, the N7 markings on their uniforms were testament to that. Now they were on their way to the HQ of the best outfit in the N7s. They were on their way to become members of Ghosts of the Past. Outside of the Alliance brass and it's own members the Ghosts were just that, ghosts. Few that were brought into the outfit ever left. Those that did only left because they were killed in combat._

_Shepard was both excited for and dreading this. After you became a Ghost you gave up your past life. Shepard's mentor Anderson had told her of this when he offered the assignment to the two N7s._

_"Come on Kat! Can't be late!" Jane's high pitched voice snapped Shepard back into focus._

_"If you didn't pack everything I wouldn't be so slow." Shepard shifted the weight of the two duffle bags slung over her shoulder. "God Jane, what the hell do you have in here anyways? An anvil? maybe four?" Shepard teased back. She jogged to catch up to her friend and partner._

_Of the two red haired women Shepard was by far the stronger of the two. Compared to her lean and wiry partner Shepard was much stronger but still nearly as agile. Shepard's style of rushing her enemies and destroying them with biotics, martial arts and her shotgun or SMGs required her high strength and agility. Shepard however was severely lacking in the tech skills needed for most N7 missions._

_To solve this the brass had decided to pair her with a tech expert. As well as being one of the best techy's Shepard had met, Jane was also a very, very skilled infiltrator and had been paired together since the start of their time in the N7 program. The unlikely pair of a sniper and a close quarters specialist had been top of their class, both in their own fields and overall._

_"Oh come on. I know you like not needing to worry about what's behind you all the time. If you want to keep it that way you'll carry my things with a bit less whining." Jane teased back and gave Shepard a wink._

_Shepard easily caught up to her partner. Speed was another need for her in combat._

_"If I'm going to have anyone behind me I'd rather it be you than anyone else." Shepard gave Jane a playful pinch on her backside. "But I don't mind having you in front of me either." Shepard gave Jane her own wink, this one much more mischievous than her partner's had been._

_"Come now, Kat. No time for that now." Jane glanced around._

_"If you don't screw this up for us then maybe later." Jane said in a much more hushed voice._

_Shepard chuckled at Jane's words. Over the past year of doing assignments Shepard and Jane had gone from constantly at each others throats to a kind of "friends with benefits" . Both respected the other more than any other person in the galaxy and their "arrangement" did not hamper that respect in the slightest. If anything their "arrangement", more a form of stress relief than anything else, had caused their respect to grow. This ended up further helping them to act as a signal being in two bodies._

_They kept walking on. They did need to be at their new barracks on time and any more of their casual back and forth would make them late._

_"So how are the contacts working out? You used to them yet?" Jane asked setting them on a brisk pace._

_"Yeah, it's still weird putting them in and taking them out, but they're starting to grown on me. Thanks for them, still don't like the pupil change. I can barely tolerate you calling me that stupid call sign from basic, I don't like giving you more reason to use it."_

_"Yeah well, what are friends for? Let me know if you need any more HUD changes. Not sure if I got it set up perfect last time." Jane replied. Shepard glanced at the time indicator on her new HUD, courtesy of Jane's gift._

_"Come on. We're going to be late." Shepard stepped up the pace, taking her usual place in the lead of the two._

_Shepard heard Jane chuckle behind her._

_"Yes dear." Jane replied, practically at a jog trying to keep up._

_Shepard glanced back at Jane over her shoulder._

_"Um…. No. Never call me that. Never again."_

_Shepard shook her head as Jane burst into a fit of giggles._

* * *

"Commander." Miranda's voice broke Shepard from her sleep.

"Yes?" Shepard replied wiping the tiredness from her face.

"We're about to enter Freedom's Progress' atmosphere now. Is there anything you want us to be on the look out for on the ground?"

"Survivors." Shepard replied stretching the stiffness away from sleeping on a shuttle bench for the last three hours. "Be on the look out for survivors first and foremost. Other than that just any data that would prove or disprove the Illusive Man's theory."

Shepard's gaze was instantly snapped to the sound of gruff laughter.

"Survivors? Never took you for a guddamned optimist Shepard. If what these Cerberus nuts say is true, there won't be anyone left down there."

If looks could kill, Zaeed Massani, the voice's owner, would have turned to dust. Massani was infamous for his reputation as a cold blooded merc. He was known to be the image of professionalism on a job and his will unflinching. That being said Shepard made Massani flinch under her gaze. Few people could carry through with any threat given to Massani, even fewer could do so with just a look.

"Even still. There is always the chance that someone managed to hide from whoever did this. If they are still down there we need to find them and help them."

Shepard met the eyes of Jacob and Miranda.

"You have your orders. Follow them and we won't have any problems. Understood?"

Shepard mentally winced. She was never one that liked to be a hard ass. Jacob seemed to be a nice enough person, but, in Shepard's opinion, had his loyalty misplaced. Miranda on the other hand, she was through and through a Cerberus lapdog. Miranda was the only one Shepard was unsure of as to how she would react to following orders and not giving them.

"Aye, aye, Ma'am." Jacob replied and saluted.

"Of course, Commander." Miranda's response was filled with the ice Shepard was starting to expect from the woman.

"I'm getting paid to do this aren't I? You'll have no problem from my end Shepard." Massani replied.

_So I've got one of the best mercs in the galaxy, a sniper at that, the soldier biotic, and the ice queen tech user with minor biotics. Not what I'd call a good team, but at least two of them won't stab me in the back._

* * *

"We're here, Commander." Miranda informed Shepard.

"About time." Shepard opened the hatch to the shuttle and stepped out. She pulled her Vindicator off her back and swept the area of any potential threats.

"Clear." Shepard called back into the shuttle.

Miranda, Jacob, and Zaeed followed her out of the shuttle.

"Massani, you're on over watch with your Mantis. Anything moves you kill it. Keep anything from flanking us. Taylor you and your Scimitar are on point with me. Lawson, stick with Massani and keep him covered. If there are any mechs here I want you to overload them as fast as possible."

Shepard's team nodded their acknowledgement. Shepard activated the controls on her chest plate causing her helmet to be released and sealing itself around her head.

"Alright, move out."

Shepard and Jacob moved up to the door leading off of the landing pad they had parked on. Each taking up a different side of the door. Shepard swapped out her Vindicator for her own Scimitar and nodded to Jacob to breach the door.

Jacob slapped his hand on the door controls. The door opened and Shepard and Jacob moved in shotguns at the ready. The room they entered was dead. Not the "rotting bodies" kind of dead but the "ghost town" dead. The room they entered seemed to be some type of processing center, the area where people would check into the colony on first arrival. The guard's station was empty save for a half eaten a now cold half full cup of coffee.

_Ok. Definitely not a good sign, I don't know a single coffee drinker that wouldn't finish a cup no matter what._

"Clear." Jacob and Shepard both called. They moved forward and Shepard signaled Zaeed and Miranda to follow.

The group moved deeper into the maze of pre-fab buildings. The next two rooms they came upon were some kind of living area and what looked like a cafeteria. Both rooms were in the same sort of state as the first. There wasn't a single thing out of place save that there was no sign of life of any kind. The cafeteria had tables with trays full of food, some half eaten others completely untouched.

"Looks like everyone just got up and left in the middle of dinner. I'm not liking the feel of this place, Ma'am."

"Agreed." Shepard replied. "Lawson. You have a map of this place?"

"Yes, Commander."

"Good. Find us the security building. Maybe the cams were still up when all this happened."

"Right away, Commander."

They only had to wait a few moments before Miranda had them moving on a path to the security buildings.

"Commander, I'm getting power readings from up ahead, but they're out of place."

"Noted. Any idea as to what it is?"

"I'm not sure. Whatever it is it's not far away."

They came to another door. This one, unlike all the others they had come across so far, was locked.

"Taylor, Lawson, take the right side. Massani cover us. Lawson get the door open."

Once they were all in position Miranda brought up her omni-tool. It only took a few heart beats of waiting before the door's locking mechanism flashed from red to green. Shepard nodded to Jacob. He slapped his hand on the interface and opened the door.

The area on the other side of the door seemed to be a break in the maze of pre-fab buildings. This break typically signaled the change in purpose for what each grouping in the town was used for. A mechanical synthesized voice greeted them when Jacob and Shepard moved into the area.

"Hostiles detected. moving to engage."

Shepard watched as three security mechs unfolded from the spots on the floor.

"Just when I thought this was going to be easy. Taylor! Pull right! Lawson! Back! Massani! Left!"

Shepard called out to her team. They obeyed without hesitation. Right after the words left her mouth they sprung into action. Jacob pulled the mech on the right of the room. Shepard charged the same mech. She heard the loud crack of Zaeed's Mantis sniper rifle going off and the subsequent miniature explosion of the mech, now behind her, exploding. Shepard watched as the final mech spasmed and fell to the ground, sparks running along its body.

"That's strange." Miranda's tone was full of worry. "Those mechs should have recognized us as humans. Someone must be here to have reprogrammed them."

"Do another scan. If there are more of these things I want to know about it." Shepard turned to Miranda.

Before she could say anymore there came a deep thundering boom. Shepard thought she could faintly hear the screams of injured people coming from the same direction. Shepard realized the noises were coming from the same direction they were headed.

"Alright double time it people! I'm not letting mechs wreck anything that could give me an out here."

With that Shepard ran off deeper into the maze of buildings, not stopping to see if her squad was following her.

It wasn't long before Shepard heard the familiar sounds of a fire fight not far ahead of her. Shepard picked out the distinct rattling of automated weapons rife and the clean pops of pistols. Shepard once more heard the boom from earlier. This time it was much louder and shook the building. She now could more clearly hear the screams of the dying and couldn't place what it was but something was off with the voices. Shepard increased her run to a sprint after yet another explosion went off.

It took Shepard only moments to cover the final ground between her and the area that the fire fight was raging in. Shepard's eyes widened in shock as she took in the scene before her.

Shepard had expected looters or even slavers to be fighting with more of the same mechs and maybe a turret. What she hadn't expected was a pair of heavy mechs, basically walking tanks, to be slaughtering a squad of Quarians. Shepard quickly took cover before the mechs could acknowledge she was there and get a bead on her. Shepard quickly holstered her Scimitar on her back and drew her two Tempests.

Glancing over her cover of boxes Shepard once again took in the scene before her. Each of the two mechs had weapons for arms. One arm was a chain gun and the other a rocket launcher. At the feet of the mechs was about a half dozen still quarian forms. Their bodies riddled in holes and their suites blackened in varying degree. It seemed the mechs were currently trying to kill the remaining Quarians. Of what she could see, it looked as if there were only two or three Quarians left in the area. Luckily for both them and Shepard, they had taken cover behind a slab of stone. Unluckily however, the mechs were slowly chipping away at the stone.

"HEY!" Shepard yelled out and jumped out of cover.

"Come on walking scrap!" Shepard started firing into the mech closest to her. "Try an N7 for a change!" Shepard yelled out firing short bursts from both her Tempests, each one trained on a different mech.

Her plan worked, but a bit too well. The mechs immediately turned their attention away from the Quarians and both lumbered to try and get a shot at her.

"That's right come and get me." Shepard muttered to herself. She moved around the mechs to give their backs to the quarians.

"Shepard!" Shepard heard Zaeed call out. "We've got this one!" Zaeed called out and Shepard saw sparks crackle over the mech closest to the door.

Shepard switched her focus to the undamaged mech. Her shots at it from before had only weakened its shields.

"Was wondering if you guys were going to show up." Shepard called out after Zaeed's rifle cracked fully taking the shields off of the first mech.

"Can't let you have all the credit now can we?" Jacob called out, the booming sound of his shotgun going off almost drowning him out.

Shepard turned her attention back to the mech in front of her. She quickly emptied her two SMGs into the mech, taking it's shields out.

The mech finally got a bead on her just as she writhed herself in biotic energy. Shepard shields flared when the mech fired its chain gun at her. Acting on instinct alone, Shepard rolled to the side. Once she regained her feet she charged the mech.

Unlike its smaller counterparts Shepard's charge didn't send it flying way. Instead it left a large dent in its chest armor. Before the mech could react, Shepard quickly climbed up atop it. Once more filled with biotic energy, Shepard grabbed the mech's cylindrical head and pulled up. Shepard heard the metal on the mech creek just before it's head was violently ripped from it's body.

"Ha ha! I need to remember that for later!" Shepard said and jumped off of the mech that was now falling forward.

Shepard looked over to see the other mech on the ground and full of holes. Shepard glanced up at her team. Jacob and Miranda both wore expressions of shock and fear. Zaeed on the other hand was grinning ear to ear.

"That was outstanding Shepard. Best guddamned show I've seen in some time." Zaeed called out as Shepard activated the controls to retract her helmet.

'W-wait. Did-did you say Shepard?" Shepard heard from her left. The voice was the same soft voice she remembered from the long sleepless nights on the Normandy.

Shepard looked over to where the there Quarians were standing. All but one had their weapons out.

"Tali'Zorah? Is-is that you?" Shepard couldn't hide the shock from her voice or her face.

"It is." The quarian without her weapon out said and moved closer to Shepard. "How…. How are you here? I watched the _Normandy_ explode! Joker, he said you didn't make it out!"

Shepard moved over to Tali. "I made it off Tali. I just, landed on the planet below."

Shepard motioned over at Jacob and Miranda. "Cerberus found my body. They put me back together. I don't know how to prove it Tali, but I'm me. Just with a few added parts."

Shepard felt the wind leave her as Tali slammed into her, wrapping her into a tight hug.

"I knew it! I knew it couldn't be true! I knew that you, of all people, couldn't die! Not on me, not on Garrus, not on any of us!"

Shepard chuckled and returned Tali's hug just as tightly. "I've missed you too, Tali. Wait. What do you mean, not on Garrus?"

Before Tali could reply, Miranda spoke up.

"I hate to interrupt this friendly reunion," disdain dripping from Miranda's voice "but we have a job to do Commander."

"And you." Miranda rounded on Tali. "What are you quarians doing here. This is a human colony. You have no right to be here."

"Miranda!" Shepard barked in her you've-pissed-off-your-CO voice. "Go do something useful. Something that doesn't involve being an asshole to my sister."

Shepard leaned closer to Tali. "You basically are a sister to me Tali."

Shepard pulled back from Tali a bit. "As much as I hate to say it but Miranda is right. I do have a job to do here. But first Tali, please tell me what you're doing here. I'd never have expected there to be Quarians here."

Tali sighed. "I'm here looking for a quarian named Veetor. He was here on Pilgrimage. The Fleet lost contact with him a few days ago, so my team and I were sent here to check up on him." Tali paused taking a steadying breath at the mention of her now dead team.

"My team and I saw him run into the building over there when we were landing." Tali pointed behind Shepard. Shepard turned and saw a small one room building with various antennas coming off the top of it.

"Well then. It looks like we're here for similar reasons. You're looking for Veetor and I'm looking for anyone that could explain what happened here. Come on. lets go try and talk to him." Shepard motioned for Tali to follow her.

"Massani, Taylor stand guard outside, I don't want any stray mechs coming up behind us." Shepard glanced at the two men seeing nods of acceptance in reply.

"Lawson." Shepard looked over to the other woman finding her gaze met by a cold icy stare. "Go back and prep the shuttle for departure. I don't want to spend anymore time on this rock than needed."

"Come on Tali."

When Shepard and Tali entered the building they were greeted by the harsh orange lights of multiple holo displays and muttered ramblings. They found the outlined figure of a male Quarian sitting in a chair in front of rows of displays. Shepard guessed that this must be where the security cameras were all controlled and monitored. As the two women approached they could faintly make out what the quarian was saying. Shepard glanced at the displays, she found all of them to be filled with data and graphs that she couldn't begin to comprehend.

"No no no. Can't let them find me. Can't let the monsters take me. No no no." Veetor's ramblings forced Shepard's gaze back to the Quarian in front of her. Shepard felt a twinge in her stomach at the sound of his voice. It was panicked and full of fear. Shepard pushed back the memories from Elysium that threatened to resurface.

"Veetor? Can you hear me" Shepard heard Tali's voice next to her, her voice filled with concern.

"Veetor?" Tali repeated.

An idea popped into Shepard's mind. Quickly she pulled up her omni-tool and connected to the displays. With a wave of her hand Shepard caused the holo displays to quickly shut off.

Shepard and Tali watched as Veetor froze with fear. In an instant Veetor was up and out of his chair facing the two women. Despite his face, like all Quarian faces, being hidden behind his tinted visor, Shepard could still see Veetor's illuminated eyes widen in surprise. Veetor's eyes were locked squarely on Shepard as he stared dumbfounded that she was there. In the time Shepard had spent getting to know and becoming close with Tali, Shepard had become to be quite good at reading Quarians based on body language. Shepard took in Veetor and if she had to guess she'd beat that his jaw was straining out of his helmet.

"You… You're human? How… How did they not find you? The-the seekers found everyone else." Veetor asked having finally found his voice.

Before Veetor could continue Shepard held up her hand and interrupted the string of questions she knew was to ensue.

"I wasn't here when the attack happened Veetor. I only got here about an hour ago." Shepard paused and brought back her habits from the Normandy. "Take a deep breath and tell us what happened here."

Shepard felt Tali tense next to her. Apparently her "motherly-commander" voice, as most of the crew called it when they thought she couldn't hear them, brought back memories to the younger woman. Shepard knew Tali's tells. It was clear to her when she glanced over to her friend that she was trying to not break down at the wellspring of memories she had unknowingly released.

Veetor did as Shepard asked and took a deep breath, seeming to relax a bit when he let it out. She may have been gone for two years but the memories and instincts were definitely still there.

"They came over us without warning. They came in a massive ship. Before we knew what was happening the seeker swarms came over us. They… They took everyone. I-I hid. They never found me. They took everyone but me. But they'll be back. They always take everyone."

Veetor turned back to the displays behind him and typed something on a keyboard. Shepard's own eyes widened as a looping bit of video from one of the cameras came up on the displays. Shepard heard Tali gasp and felt her tense again. Both women recognized the figures on the screens before them. Before now. Shepard had only thought the bipedal insect like creatures to have just be stories and myths. The image of a Collector seeming to be commanding over a group of husks however, dispelled any doubts she had.

Every culture has its own myths and stories that parents tell their children to keep them in line. As a spacer kid, Shepard's childhood stories were not unlike those of the migrant Quarians. While most stories had different ways of telling them they all had the same lessons. All but one of them were majorly different yet the same in lesson. The one that both Tali and Shepard both knew was of the creature before them, the story of the Collectors.

The story told of a race of insectoid creatures that would show up out of the black and steal away a ship's crew. They would never leave any trace that they were there other than the computer recordings of them. In the stories they was always some hero, usually the ship's captain, that would defeat the collectors when they boarded their ship and then rescue the other crews. Shepard had always dismissed the story as just that until now.

Shepard turned her attention back to Veetor. She schooled her expression to that of concern and interest, not hard to do since she was both. Shepard took a step closer to Veetor and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. Shepard locked eyes with the young Quarian once more.

"Please Veetor. Tell me everything you know about them. I can stop them from doing what they did in the stories."

Veetor glanced over to Tali. Knowing Tali she had nodded to him to continue and to trust Shepard. Veetor locked eyes with Shepard and began telling her everything he knew.

* * *

"What the hell do you think is talking them so guddamned long? Been in there a good half hour. If I didn't know better I'd say those two were getting 're-acquainted'."

Jacob rolled his eyes at Zaeed's comment. Jacob was about to reply when he watched the door to the building Shepard and the Quarian went in open up. Jacob and Zaeed stood up from their respective creates when Shepard walked out followed closely by the quarian she had entered with. They were not alone however. Jacob raised an eyebrow at Shepard when he saw that there was another Quarian. This one was male and the female Quarian's arm was wrapped around his shoulders almost comfortingly so.

"Taylor!" He snapped to attention. "Radio Lawson and have her come pick us up. We're going to drop off Tali, her squad and Veetor at Tali's ship before we leave."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Jacob replied and saluted before going off to do as ordered.

"Massani! You and I are at Tali's disposal til we leave. I can't do all the heavy lifting alone and we're not leaving her team's bodies' here."

Zaeed nodded his acknowledgement.

"Shepard, you don't have to. We can manage without it." Tali voiced.

"I'm going to help you and you'll like it." Shepard allowed her humor into her voice as she smiled to her friend. "Besides, I know you a lot. This is the least I can do."

"Heh Alright then. Let's see… What can I have you do…" Shepard heard the mischief in Tali's voice. Zaeed seemed to hear it too as Shepard heard him groan in response, muttering some curse at women in general.

* * *

"Shepard. It seems I underestimated you." The Illusive Man's voice immediately came over Shepard when she stepped onto the QEC platform back at the space station. She was taking in the harsh glow of the holo displays behind The Illusive Man's seated form before replying. Shepard could see the open displays of various data from Veetor's omni-tool and even a paused recording from Shepard's helmet cams.

"Everyone does. Both enemies and allies alike." Shepard replied coldly. "It seems that for the time you and I will be the later."

"Indeed. Believe me when I say this, getting the Quarians to send me their data from Veetor was a surprising olive branch given our history with them." The Illusive Man took a pause to take a drag from his cigarette.

"Ever think of being nice once in a while? Even I know that being tactful has it's uses." Shepard replied, disapproval in her voice.

"Diplomacy is great when it works. It's hard to use however, when everyone already sees you as a threat. So, are you willing to work with me to solve this issue of the Collectors? Or will I need to find someone else to do it?"

Shepard resisted rolling her eyes at him. It was clear to her that he only wanted to hear the words himself.

"If I'm going to do this I'm going to need an army, or a really good team. I gathered from Miss Zorah that most of my old team has their own obligations. I assume you've accounted for this already?"

The Illusive Man took a deep inhale from his cigarette, it's red glow lighting up his face.

"Your loyalty to your friends and crew are admirable Shepard. You are correct that most of your old team is otherwise occupied at the moment. If it changes I will inform you." Another deep inhale.

"And you are again correct in your assumptions. I have taken the liberty of compiling a list of dossiers on the best and brightest that you'll need. I'm also sending Miranda, Jacob and Zaeed with you. Before you go, two things." Yet another deep inhale. Shepard had spent only a brief time talking to this man and she already knew some of his tells. Being a Skillian Five player sure had it's benefits.

"Go to Omega and acquire Mordin Solus. He's a brilliant scientist and biologist. You'll need need his expertise to help deal with these seeker swarms."

"Don't get too comfortable 'ordering' me around. keep it up and this won't last. I can see logic but I am not your puppet." Shepard interrupted him coldly. She never took kindly to being ordered around by people that weren't her superiors.

"Noted." The Illusive Man replied just as coldly.

"And the second?" Shepard wanted this over soon. She'd had enough of this shadowy being for the day.

"I believe I've found you a pilot I think you'll like. I hear he's one of the best."

Before Shepard could reply the com went offline. Shepard was back in the small baren room on the space station. She heard slow careful boot falls behind her. She thought she recognized the pattern in the step but couldn't place it. Shepard started to turn around. She caught a glimpse of the figure before its voice reached her ears.

"Hey Commander. Just like old times huh?" Jokers voice was light. To anyone else he would have sounded almost happy and humorous. Shepard knew all of her crew by heart. She heard the underlying tones of disbelief, shock and joy in his voice.

Shepard turned to face him and triggered the release on her helmet. She'd neglected to retract it when talking to The Illusive Man. For the second time in the last twelve hours of being awake Shepard allowed herself to show emotion. Shepard allowed the grin she had to show on her face. Her grin grew even wider on seeing the light of recognition and acceptance in her friend's eyes.

"Joker! It's good to see a friendly face around here." Shepard moved towards the shorter man.

"Hmmp. you have no idea Commander." Joker took a step forward, arm outstretched to shake her hand. Shepard in turn clasped Joker's arm.

"Come on. I've got something to show you." Joker turned around and started hobbling back up the steps.

Shepard followed her friend, slowing her usually brisk pace to keep in step with him.

"You know I don't like surprises Joker. Just remember that impromptu birthday party you and the team threw for me? Remember what I almost did to that room full of people that shouted 'surprise' when I walked into the mess? Surprises and grunts hardwired for combat don't exactly mix."

Shepard saw Joker grin at the memory. He'd told her later that it'd been his idea. If it wasn't for the adrenaline pumping shock that had her about to kill half the crew in the matter of seconds it would've been a nice thought.

"Hey! How was I supposed to know? I still owe Garrus a drink for that one. If I hadn't known better I'd be inclined to believe those rumors floating around about you two." Joker sent a glance her way . Seeing the look of confusion on Shepard's face he continued. "Besides, you'd've liked your death party better. None of that solemn and sorrow crap. Just like a regular party just celebrating you."

Shepard wouldn't be side tracked that easily however.

"Wait what rumors? I knew about all that crap about me being involved with either Liara or Kaidan. But Garrus? Seriously? Was my crew THAT gossipy?"

Shepard was both amused and intrigued about this new bit of information. It was only human nature to try and pair up different crew members. To some people it was their favorite hobby. Shepard never understood why she'd been thrown into the mix though. Shepard had been sort of a mother figure for the Normandy's crew, Shepard had gained her leadership skills from her mother, who captained a dreadnaught the same way.

"Well… um…" Joker shifted nervously. "Oh look we're here."

Shepard filed the conversation away for later and made a note to corner the man about it later. Shepard looked over the the window that she and Joker had ended up in front of. Joker reached over the the side of the window and pressed a button.

"They only told me about it this morning." Joker said and the room on the other side of the window was flooded with light.

Shepard's jaw went slack at the sight before her. On the other side of the window was a dry dock. In it was a ghost ship. Painted in Cerberus colors the Normandy sat before her. Shepard noted the increased size however, this one had to be at least half again as big as the original. Shepard saw Joker smile in the corner of her eye, weather it was from the ship or her face she couldn't tell.

"Welcome home Commander."

"Well, I guess we'll have to give her a name."

"Come on. Miss Lawson told me to have you on board in an hour for 'briefing'."

Shepard was brought out of her stupor at the Cerberus operative's name. She nodded in response to Joker.

"Lead the way then."

* * *

"So how'd your 'briefing' go?" Joker asked as Shepard approached the cockpit.

"As dull as expected. Still feels odd actually having an AI. They're so useful. Being made by Cerberus however is another matter." Shepard replied coming up behind Joker's chair and resting her hands on the back of his chair.

Shepard's gaze was taken from the screens in front of her to the glowing blue ball that appeared next to Joker. Shepard was used to VIs of all kinds, an AI however was still new. Shepard would gladly take any advantage she could get, getting them from Cerberus however made her teeth clench.

"I assure you Commander, I am only in control of the cyber warfare suits on the ship. Nothing else is in my capabilities to control. If you wish you can view my shackling protocols." The AI, EDI, told her in her monotone synthesized voice.

"Noted." Shepard replied. Sentience or not an AI was still just a tool.

Shepard turned back to Joker. "Set us a coarse for Omega. Make it as fast as you can."

"Setting coarse." Joker replied. "You know you can do that from the CIC right? No need to come up here personally."

"You know me Joker. I'd rather do everything in person than over comms if i can."

"You sure its not to come and see me? I hear that I'm quite easy on the eyes." Joker quipped back, Shepard smirked. It seemed that some things never changed.

"Joker, I've broken better men and women than you." Shepard joked back, feeling at ease with the familiar banter.

"Shepard. That was something that I didn't need to know. But if you have any proof of this I'd be happy if you decided to share."

Shepard snorted. "Joker not even if you were the last guy in the 'verse would I let you see me naked."

"Hey now! Some of us have feelings. Not all of us are hardened grunts like you."

"Fair point. So ETA on getting to Omega?"

Though she was reluctant to do so Shepard did have some things to get done before getting to Omega.

"ETA 6 hours. I'll ping you when we're an hour out."

"Thanks Joker." Shepard replied patting her friend's shoulder.

"Shepard." Joker stopped her as she turned to leave.

"Yeah?"

"Its really good to have you back Ma'am." Shepard heard the truth of his words in his voice.

"Its good to be back." She replied equally sincere.

* * *

He had lost track of time. Everything seemed to blur together. Every minute, every hour. They all seemed to be the same. Everything in his world had funneled down into nothing but him, his scope, and the idiots that kept coming into sight. Each shot a kill. Each kill an avenging death for his men, for his friends.

Archangel had lost track of everything but what came into scope. Each breath he drew another merc fell. each merc that fell another name left his mouth.

In the hours since arriving back at his base he had done nothing but slaughter the mercs that killed his team. Everything had become the dull and unsatisfying routine. Sight, breath, fire, reload, another name. His mind was blank but for the focus of killing as many mercs as he could.

The crack of his Mantis rang out. Another Merc fell. _Eresh._

Crack. _Melenis._

Crack. _Krul._

Crack. _Ripper._

Crack. _Mierin._

Crack. _Grundan._

Crack. _Sensat._

Crack._ Vortash._

Crack. _Butler._

Crack. _Monteague._

Crack._ Wreaver._

Crack._ Shepard._

It was an endless cycle. Archangel had no intentions of stopping until either they were all dead or he was. He had nothing left to lose.

_I'll met you in that bar soon Shepard._ Crack.

_Just a while longer._ Crack.

_I'm not done yet._ Crack.

Crack. _Shepard._

* * *

A/N:

Wow this chapter was both fun and exhausting to write. When i Posted chapter 2 I had this at just over 3k words. But I didn't think that putting the talks with The Illusive Man in multiple chapters to be a good idea. So as a result, not only did this have some background on my Shepard but I also get to bring Garus into the main plot a tad faster.

This chapter took a bit longer the finish than I'd wanted but hopefully you all enjoy it. If you don't please let me know and I'll see what I can do to make this better.

And finally, I just need to let you all know that my updates will be only once MAYBE twice a month for the next few months. My writing time has been cut down quite a bit due to having a ton of stuff dropped onto my shoulders in my guild in Rift. As a result (until I can re-balance everything) I won't have as much time to write.

Thank you for reading! Please let me know how I'm doing, or if there is anything you thing I should add/change.


	4. Chapter 4: Savior

Chapter 4: Savior

Shepard was bored. It was rare for her to be so. For the first time in quite a long time she had nothing to do. The thought of sleep came to mind, but she shoved that aside. Shepard knew that there was no way she'd be able to sleep, she was still full of energy and not even the instinct to sleep whenever she could would help her.

Shepard glanced over at the large bed that occupied the other side of the room. It, like the rest of the room and most of the ship looked cold, hard, and lifeless. Sure having a "cabin" that was half the size of the rest of the decks on the ship was nice, but after living out of a duffle bag her entire life it was far, far too large. Her room, like the rest of the_ Normandy_, was far too different from the original. The old _Normandy_ was full of life and laughter at nearly every hour. Now the _Normandy_ under Cerberus was far too guarded for her to get much out of most of the crew. Shepard never thought she'd say it but she sorely missed the atmosphere of her Alliance commands.

There were only three places out of the whole ship that Shepard felt anything but that guarded, almost fearful, feeling she felt across the ship. Those places where only like that because of the people there. The cockpit was the most prominent area, what with Joker's lack of caring what others thought of him. The med-bay was the other area that was brought to mind. Shepard had always like Karin Chakwas on the old _Normandy_, having the motherly doctor around always made her feel just a tad safer should anything happen. Karin was not only a second mother to Shepard but also a rock that she knew would always be there. The last area of the ship that had any life to it was, of all things, the engineering deck. Shepard was surprised to find her engineering staff to be all of two people. The fact that it was just them gave a lighter air to the deck. Her engineers, Kenneth Donnelly and Gabriella Daniels, were clearly long time friends, Shepard let them be so long as her ship worked.

"EDI." Shepard called out to the silence around her.

"Yes, Commander?" EDI's voice came over her room's stereo system.

"I'm going to need every thing available on Omega and where I can find Doctor Solus and Archangel. Send everything you can gather up to my terminal when you're done." Shepard replied.

"Yes Commander. Will there be anything else?"

"Yes. Please send Miss Chambers up to my quarters."

"She is on her way Commander."

"Thank you, EDI. That will be all."

"Logging you out."

Shepard looked over at the clock in her HUD. She winced when she saw she still had four hours to kill before they reached Omega. Hopefully Kelly Chambers would help her kill most of that time. After her chat with Joker, Shepard had spent the last two hours trying to get to know her crew. Shepard had always lead by the idea of always being there for everyone. Other than Donnelly, Daniels, Chakwas and Joker the crew that she tried to talk with all made some excuse to avoid her. Shepard had a feeling that it was more the awe of first meeting "the Great Commander Shepard" than it was of their CO trying to talk with them.

Yeoman Kelly Chambers was a different matter entirely. Shepard had only briefly spoken to the perky red-head, but the few moments she had spoken to the woman for were both enjoyable and confusing. They were enjoyable because of Kelly's perky demeanor and almost complete innocence, and thus confusing because of it. Kelly had told Shepard that she was there to not only be her Yeoman, a glorified secretary, but also as the ship's psychiatrist. Ever since being told of what happened to the squad sent to Azuke and after her suicidal "heroics" on Elysium, Shepard had always assumed that anyone involved with Cerberus were some kind of twisted monsters. Seeing Jacob and now Kelly made her rethink that.

Kelly was no where close to what Shepard had expected. The younger woman, though not much younger, was very pleasant to be around. The very air around the bubbly woman had seemed to warm around her the closer Shepard was to her. Bubbly, was definitely the best way for Shepard to think about Kelly. She had never expected such warmth from a member of such a cold organization.

Shepard was pulled out of the silence of her mind by the ping of someone outside her door.

"Come in, Kelly." Shepard opened the door to the cabin.

"You wanted to see me, Commander?" Kelly replied as she stepped into her room and taking in the large area before her.

"Yeah Kelly. Please have a seat." Shepard stood up from the large couch occupying a corner of the room.

Kelly took a seat on the other side of the "L" shaped couch.

"So what is it you'd like to talk about? " The young woman inquired.

"Just wanted to chat, Kelly. Let you find out what makes me tick. Dossiers never do a person justice, They make come close but they're nothing like actually talking to the person."

"Very true Commander." Kelly replied. Shepard cut her off before she could say more.

"Alright, first thing. Don't call me 'Commander', I'm not part of the Alliance anymore." Shepard's spine chilled at her own words. " Shepard will do fine, Kathrine if you'd prefer for when we're alone."

"Alright then, Katherine." Kelly replied feeling her way around Shepard's given name. Shepard could count the number of people that had used her real name in her past on one hand. Of those only her mother and Doctor Chakwas, were still alive.

"Tell me about your old team on the _Normandy_. I've only read the news articles on them and might as well start somewhere familiar. I remember reading quite a bit about one of them in particular. I believe his name was Garrus? He seemed to be almost as popular as you were back then."

Shepard watched as a smile came over Kelly's face. She felt like she knew the mischievous, challenging smile, from where she couldn't quite peg.

Shepard let out a breath. "Oh sure, pick the largest topic first. Garrus was quite the character." Shepard felt herself smile at the memories that came to mind.

"If you ever meet him don't tell him I said this but, I'm not sure I can do him justice."

Shepard watched Kelly's smile widen. It was still familiar to her for some reason, the almost knowing smile tugged at her mind. Kelly leaned forward with obvious interest.

* * *

Omega was by far, the best representation of Hell Shepard could think of. As soon as Shepard, Jacob, and Zaeed stepped off the Normandy the former two nearly choked on the stench. Shepard had thought she could handle anything after the sights and smell from countless battles and countless hours in interrogation rooms. The overwhelming stench of Omega told her otherwise. It was a terrible combination of the worst smells she could think of and countless ones she didn't want a name to.

Omega's ruler was completely opposite the foul station, at least in appearance. Shepard took in the lithe yet powerful Asari sitting on the couch opposite her. Like all Asari, Aria T'lok was attractive and a powerful biotic. Shepard could practically feel the biotic power rolling off the Asari, likely a side effect of Cerberus' upgrades. Shepard could tell that despite her clean calm exterior Aria was no different from her and likely waist deep in the blood of others.

Shepard had been told by EDI that the best person to ask about the whereabouts for Doctor Solus and Archangel would be Aria. So far She had not disappointed. Aria had told Shepard that Mordan ran a clinic in the slums and was working on curing a plague in the area.

"You said you needed information on someone else? Someone else for your suicide squad?" Aria asked, with an appreciative eye on Shepard.

Shepard had noticed the interest Aria had shown towards her. Shepard was used to it even before she had come into the lime light of being the first human Spectre. For some reason she couldn't fathom Asari had always had an interest in Shepard, she had learned long ago to ignore it.

"I did." Shepard replied, crossing her legs over one another. "I'm looking for a Turian. I'm told he's made quite the name for himself her the last few years. Archangel, I believe the locals call him."

"Hmmm, Archangel. You're going to make some enemies teaming up with him Shepard. He's found a way to piss off all of Omega's major players at once. Almost feel bad for him. He's done quite a bit of house cleaning for me."

"So you know him, good. Where can I find him? Assuming you don't know where he is would be idiotic." Shepard replied. She shuddered mentally seeing that the almost hungry look in Aria's eyes were still there.

Aria chuckled. "You're smarter than the vids pegged you as I'll give you that. And yes I know where he is. Getting to him is another matter however."

"Oh? Care to explain? Or are you going to make me beat it out of you?" Shepard replied, allowing a hint of sultriness into her voice. Shepard heard Zaeed give a slight chuckle but she kept her focus on Aria.

Shepard had asked EDI to dig up everything it could on Aria. The information that EDI gave her was a practical gold mine. Cerberus was very well connected it seemed. Shepard had a habit for using every advantage she could. Aria already being interested in Shepard made teasing Aria's desires that much easier. Shepard's ability to capitalize on every mistake or weakness her enemies had was what made her the best the Alliance had, both on and off the battlefield.

Aria coughed, clearly trying to keep control over the situation, both between her and Shepard and within herself.

"Those major players I talked about? They're currently working together to try and kill him." Shepard mentally smiled that her ploy worked. Shepard applauded Aria for keeping control. Shepard hadn't lied when she told Joker she'd broken better men and women than him. She was almost disappointed that she couldn't add another name to that extensive list.

"Them working together is bad enough." Aria continued. "They're never together unless there's a war between them. Archangel's life span now is measured in mere hours maybe a day, if he's lucky."

Aria glanced over her shoulder. "The mercs are using the room over there to recruit for cannon fodder. Your best bet to get there is through them."

When Aria looked back at Shepard her expression was once again schooled into one of detached disinterest.

"Looks like I don't have time to waste, then." Shepard replied standing up.

"You have all the time in the world. Archangel? Not so much. Come back if you need anything else." From the look in Aria's eyes Shepard could tell she did mean _anything_.

Shepard walked down from Aria's private lounge that had looked out over the main floor in the club _AfterLife_. she motioned for Jacob and Zaeed to follow her. The three wasted no time going to the merc's room.

Upon entering the room Shepard was greeted with the sight of a grizzled Batarian in the blue and white armor of the Blue Suns. He glanced up as the trio approached.

"Ya got the wrong room honey." The batarian spoke, his rough voice like sand paper to Shepard's ears. "The stipper's quarters are downstairs." The Batarian smirked.

In the span of a heart beat Shepard was within arms reach of the Batarian. Her shotgun was out, it's barrel in his face and she was wreathed in the azure glow of her biotic energy.

"Show me yours. I bet mine's bigger." Shepard's voice spoke of the pleasure she'd get from pulling the trigger right then. There was nothing in the galaxy that shepard hated more than Batarians.

Shepard saw the pure, raw fear in his eyes. "Impressive. I didn't expect that."

Shepard lowered her shotgun, still keeping it out. The blue glow faded from around her. "I hear this is where one goes to kill Archangel. We want in." Shepard gestured to Zaeed and Jacob.

"Standard pay is five hundred credits. You get payed after it's done. You die and your friends don't collect your share." The Batarian still had fear in his tone, but he at least wasn't tripping over his words.

"There's a car outside that will take you there." The Batarian continued.

"Thank you." Shepard replied her voice icy.

Shepard heard the door open behind her.

"Hey! I heard this is where I could sign up." Shepard heard a scratchy voice behind her.

She turned to see a kid just inside the doorway. Shepard pegged him for seventeen, eighteen at the most. He looked like the kind of poor kid that knew nothing but a life on the streets.

"Yeah." Shepard replied. "How old are you kid?"

The boy glared at her. "I'm old enough." He walked up to stand next to Shepard.

'I grew up on Omega. I know how to use a gun."

Shepard snorted "Yeah and so does Archangel."

"Besides." the kid continued "I just spent fifty credits on…." He pulled out a Shuriken SMG from his hip. His body unused to the weight.

Shepard didn't give him a chance to do anything else. Before the boy or the merc could do anything to react, Shepard reached out and grabbed the gun from the boy's hands.

"Get your money back kid." Shepard said and bent the barrel to a ninety degree angle. She shoved the now useless gun back into the kid's hands.

"Hey!" The kid yelled out.

Shepard walked out of the room ignoring the shouts from the boy that followed her.

* * *

Things were quiet. Over the last eighteen hours of near non-stop shooting, Archangel had learned that quiet was bad. The last time it was this quiet, the mercs had tried to kill him using one of the Blue Suns' gunships. He quickly put an end to that threat by shooting out one of it's thrusters.

Garrus leaned out from the cover he was using, for now a window frame. He sighted down to what he could see of the boulevard the mercs had occupied. His only saving grace for now was that the completely open bridge leading from his building to the street was the only way in now.

Garrus didn't see any movement through his scope. His visor told him there were mercs on the other side of the barricade that had been erected. They had apparently learned how to actually use cover.

_What are they up too?_ Garrus thought.

Garrus nearly dropped his Mantis when a familiar face entered his sights. Garrus slammed his eyes shut and shook his head. When he opened them again and sighted the face was gone.

_Get a hold of yourself Vakarian. She's not here. She can't be here._

Garrus didn't dare go far from his perch. The last time he did so it was nearly the end of him. Had the mercs pushed his base the last time he went to get food he would've been caught with his pants down. Never the less, Garrus had brought some extras with him. Fighting on little sleep was one thing, fighting without food and sleep was near impossible. Garrus quickly ducked back into cover. No need to give them a clear shot.

Garrus flipped on the listening devices that were stationed at the end of the bridge and grabbed a bottle of water from nearby. The devices only had enough power left in them for a few minutes of activity, He'd been warned of it several hours ago. Now seemed as good a time as any to use those last minutes.

"... That's the signal! Bridge teams! GO GO GO!" A rough batarian voice came over his helmet speakers almost instantly.

Garrus dropped his bottle, lid half open, and picked up his Mantis once more. He nearly dropped it when another voice came over his speakers.

"You're workin' too hard." The Batarian's scream filled his helmet, but Garrus barely heard it.

_No. There's no way._

"Come on. I'm not letting his guy die on and keep up this time Jacob."

Garrus heard several thumps as armored forms landed on the other side of the barricade. One of them had a grenade launcher and fired into his building. The explosion shook the floor but did nothing to actually hurt him, his shields taking care of the stray shrapnel with ease. Garrus quickly sighted on a merc and pulled the trigger. The merc's head exploding while he ducked back into cover.

Garrus popped back out of cover and sighted. His scope came to rest on the face he now only saw in his dreams. Everything was the exact same as when he last saw her. Her eyes were the tell tale slits of having her contacts in. Her skin still pale in comparison to other humans, pale from years of continued encasement in armor. Even her scars were the same. The white line running the length of her face just to the side of her left eye, faint but still visible. The trio of lines that were once claw marks from a varren on her right cheek.

There were new scars as well. Garrus could faintly see on her left cheek faint red lines. Garrus almost thought he could see them pulsing. Some how her nose was straight and not crooked and bent from countless breaks.

Part of him yelled at him that this couldn't be real, that Shepard was dead. That part was very small however. The rest of him, mind, body, and soul, all cried out that this was Shepard.

Time had seemed to slow down as Garrus took in Shepard's face. When he fell bullets ping off his shields, time sped up much to his distaste. Garrus quickly sighted a merc and squeezed the trigger.

Garrus dropped back into cover to reload and give his shields a chance to recharge. Garrus' speakers crackled again.

"PULL!" He heard Shepard yell, both in his ear and through his helmet pickups. Garrus heard the resounding boom of mass effect fields colliding and wet heavy thumps below him.

Garrus watched as Shepard blasted a merc with her shotgun, a large hole appearing in the merc's chest. Garrus watched as a merc tried flanking Shepard. Her quickly put a stop to it with a round in his head.

"Taylor! Massani! Hold the bridge!" Garrus heard Shepard yell.

Garrus looked up to see two men behind Shepard. They took cover behind Garrus' own barricades on his side of the bridge. Garrus looked up to see another wave of mercs coming over the far barricade.

Garrus sighted a merc and dropped him. Behind him he could hear the sound of shotgun blasts coming from the doorway to his room. He heard her familiar stride as Shepard moved up behind him. Garrus sighted on another merc, dropping him minus a head..

"Archangel?" Garrus heard Shepard ask.

A chill shiver ran down Garrus' spine. It was her. He had no doubts about it now. Her voice was one that had kept him up many a night when neither of them could sleep. It was the same voice that he had come to know as one of a close friend. One of the few voices that he could call from memory at will.

Garrus held up a hand towards Shepard. He didn't trust his voice just yet. Garrus squeezed the trigger on his Mantis, finishing off the last merc from that wave.

Garrus looked over at Shepard. Her face in a look of near recognition. Garrus slowly stood up from his crouch. He turned to fully face her and slung his Mantis onto the magnetic clamps on his back.

Shepard stepped closer to him, just outside of his reach. Garrus reached up and pulled his helmet off.

"Shepard." Garrus said, his voice was scratchy but almost a purr from his sub-vocals.

"Garrus!" The next thing he knew, the wind was knocked out of him when Shepard moved up to him and pulled him into a crushing hug.

For once in his life Garrus felt the urge to hug her back. Before he could however he felt Shepard's body tense.

"Heh, sorry. My new hormone implant isn't tuned right." Shepard said and started to pull away.

Garrus pulled her back into him in a back breaking hug, almost as if he let go she would be gone again. For once Garrus felt completely at peace, as if some dark part of him had once again been bathed in the warm light that was Shepard.

"I.. I thought you were dead." Garrus said, his voice barely a whisper.

Shepard looked up at Garrus, a small sad smile on her face, her eyes shimmering with tears just below the surface.

"I was. I…" Shepard was cut off by her comms crackling to life.

"Don' wanna break up the reunion Shepard, but we've got Eclipse coming. They're bringing in the mechs too." Garrus heard a grizzled voice from Shepard's suit speakers.

"Copy that Massani. I'll be down in a sec." Shepard replied into her comms.

"Looks like we'll need to continue this latter, Garrus." She said to him. She pulled away almost reluctantly.

Garrus cleared his throat. "Right. I'll stay up here. I can do a lot of damage from this spot. You go do what you do best." Garrus' mandibles flared into a smile of his own.

"Just like old times." Shepard said with a grin. She un-holstered her Katana.

"I'll be back." She said and jumped up onto the window ledge.

Before Garrus could say anything, Shepard was wreathed in the familiar azure glow of her biotics. The next second she was nothing but a streak of blue light, flying into the midst of the Eclipse mercs below. Garrus watched as she slammed into a group of Salarians next to one of their massive YMIR heavy mechs. The mech was shooting at the Salarians and not at Shepard, oddly enough.

In one smooth fluid motion, Garrus drew his Mantis. He sighted a merc that was trying to flank Shepard. His rifle cracked and the merc's head exploded. Garrus saw Shepard flash him a grin before flying into another merc.

_Just like old times._ Garrus thought and sighted another merc.

Garrus easily fell back into the old routine he and Shepard had honed during their pursuit of Saren. He sighted and dropped the mercs farthest from Shepard and kept an eye on her flanks, she in turn destroyed anything within reach, be it with blasts from her shotgun, biotically charged punches or kicks and now her charge ability. It was easy. It was familiar. It was peace. It was home.

Just as the last of the Eclipse fell to Garrus' deadly fire a thunderous crash echoed below him.

_Took them long enough._ Garrus thought, it was only a matter of time before the mercs had cleared the bubble out of the basement.

"ARCHANGEL!" The bellowing roar of a Krogan echoed through the building.

_Garm._ Garrus thought. _Of course it'd be the Blood Pack to dig their way in._

"Shepard! Blood Pack below me!" Garrus called out.

"Take care of that bitch and her team! Archangel is mine!" Garrus heard Garm's slow booming steps coming up the stairs behind him.

"Time to die, Archangel!" Garm yelled and he stepped into the doorway to Garrus' room.

As soon as Garrus saw the Krogan's ugly, red plated head he fired. It was a dead on hit, but only managed to break his shields.

"HA! That the best you got, Turian!" Garm roared, raising up his shotgun.

Garrus didn't bother replying. He simply reloaded and fired again, this time taking out one of Garm's eyes. Had he been any other race and Garm would have been falling to the floor dead. Krogan however were notorious for their redundant nervous systems and fast healing times. Garm himself was a freak of nature, putting other Krogan to same at how fast he regenerated.

"HA! Just a scratch!" Garm laughed off the wound as if it were nothing. Garm fired but the metal shavings went wide.

Garus re-sighted when Garm lowered his head and started pumping his legs. Garrus fired again this time taking out one of Garms knees, causing the massive Krogan to stumble and fall to one knee. Garrus heard the loud thumps of armored feet pounding up the stairs.

_Come one Shepard. I can't take him alone._

Sure enough Shepard had impeccable timing. As Garm started standing up, his knee mostly healed already, Garrus heard Shepard yell out.

"HEY UGLY!" Shepard yelled.

Garm was nearly knocked over by the blue light that was Shepard. She quickly batted aside Garm's shotgun and brought her own to just under his jaw. Garrus winced when Shepard pulled the trigger. The wet sound of Garm's jaw being riddled with metal fragments still present even over the loud boom of her shotgun.

Surprisingly Garm was still alive, but just barely. Garrus walked over to his soon to be corpse. He heard Garm's voice now weak and full of gurgling blood.

"Who… Who are you?" Garm asked, his voice full of fear.

"I am the Vanguard of the Alliance. The Daemon of Elysium. The Savior of the Citadel. I am the slayer of Saren and the destroyer of Sovereign." Shepard said coming to stand over Garm's head.

"I am the harbinger of the end of all my enemies." Shepard raised her shotgun. "I am Commander Katherine Shepard.."

Garrus watched Garm's eyes widen. Garm had no more time to contemplate Shepard's words. Shepard pulled the trigger on her shotgun, Garm's head turned into nothing more than a pile of shredded meat and broken plates.

Garrus finally reached Shepard, and placed a hand on her shoulder. He only faintly heard her voice.

"FInd peace in the Angels' embrace." Shepard muttered, regret filling her voice.

"Shepard? Are you ok?" Garrus asked, both sets of vocals filled with concern.

Shepard sniffed. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine. Just adding another name to my list." Shepard turned to face Garrus. Her face a mask of sorrow. Garrus felt the sudden urge to hug her again.

Garrus thought he could faintly hear the roar of an engine in the ensuing silence. The silence was broken with two human men walking into the room. One was dark skinned in light armor, if it could be called armor. Garrus' eyes narrowed at the orange logo on the man's chest.

_Cerberus? What's Shepard doing with them?_ Garrus thought and turned to look at the other man.

His face was hideously scarred. the right half of his face looked as if it had once had major damage. Whoever had patched him up hadn't been very good. The scars looked old, decades old at that. The man's right eye was likely now sightless, the entire orb glazed over in a milky white sheen. The man's odd orange armor didn't strike him as from any of the merc groups he knew, so he was likely a freelancer.

The grizzled older man spoke up. "Building's clear Shepard. Only the Suns are left on the other side of that bridge."

Shepard nodded to the man. "Good." She turned back to Garrus.

"What'd ya say Garrus? Ready to get off this hell hole of a station?" Shepard asked, a smile on her face. Garrus thought he heard the sound of engines growing louder.

"Yeah, just let me…." Garrus was drowned out for the roar of a gunship's engines just outside the building.

"ARCHANGEL! So you think you can fuck with the Blue Suns!?" The gunship's speakers blared a rough angry Batarian voice.

"Son of a bitch!" Garrus yelled and shoved Shepard away from him. He inturn rolled the opposite direction, taking cover behind one of the couches spread throughout the room.

"I thought I took that thing out already!" He yelled out over the whine of the gunship's chaingun fire.

'You did!" Shepard replied, crouching up next to him. "I made sure it's not at a hundred percent."

"Hell yeah ya did!" The gruff man in Shepard's team called out to their right behind the door frame.

"Massani!" Shepard yell out to the older man. "Catch!" Shepard pulled the grenade launcher off her back and tossed it to him.

Shepard pulled her Vindicator off her back. "Ready Garrus?"

Garrus nodded. Shepard grinned. "Just like old times."

With that she rolled away from him and out into the open, firing at the gunship as soon as she regained her footing. Garrus followed her lead and rolled out the opposite way, sighting the cockpit at a kneel. His fire, combined with Shepard's and the grenades lobbed by Massani caused cracks to start to form on the cockpit's canopy. The bullet resistant glass didn't hold for long under their combined fire.

The canopy shattered right when the driver activated the ship's rocket pod. One of the two rockets stored in the pod went wide and collided with the side of the building. The other flew true directly for Garrus. He fired one last shot, catching the Batarian square in the chest. He tried to dive away but was too late.

"No!" He heard Shepard yell. An azure wall appeared in front of him, but it only served to slow the rocket down.

Time slowed down for Garrus as he watched the rocket rush towards him, he tried to move but his limbs wouldn't obey him. He froze like a rookie just out of boot camp.

_I'm sorry Shepard._ was the only thing that went through his mind and the rocket slammed into him.

The rocket hit and detonated on his shields. They held only long enough to stop the rocket's momentum, but not enough to save him from the blast. The blast caught him on the right side of his face and sent him spinning to the floor, landing on his now injured side.

His vision went black, with pain. Pain unlike any he had felt before. Pain that felt like his entire body was on fire, inside and out. Pain as if he had been riddled with bullet holes until nothing but meat and shattered plates were left.

"Garrus!" He heard Shepard yell out over the blood rushing in his ears. He thought he could hear grief in her usually calm and steady voice. "Come on Garrus! Stay with me!"

Garrus' vision slowly came back into focus. He was becoming numb to everything but her voice. He thought he could feel a pool of something wet under his face, but it didn't matter to him. All that mattered was that Shepard here with him now.

"EDI!" He heard Shepard yell into her comms. He slowly brought her gaze up to her eyes. The were wet again, this time he thought he could see small trails of that wetness making their way down her face.

"I need a med evac! And I needed it twenty minutes ago!" Shepard's voice was still filled with grief, she wasn't even trying to hide it.

"Come on Garrus! Stay with me!" Shepard rolled him over to be resting on his back and not his side.

"Massani! Find me a med-kit! Taylor! Get me some of those blankets! NOW!" Shepard yelled out to her squad.

Garrus slowly moved his hand towards her. It was getting harder for him to focus. He feared he would black out again. Worse he feared he wouldn't wake up this time. Garrus managed to move his hand towards hers and gripped it tightly.

Garrus managed to choke out a single word. "Sh-Shepard..."

"Shhh. Garrus don't talk." Shepard locked eyes with him, for the first time that he'd known her Garrus saw grief, raw and unbridled, in her eyes.

Pain lanced through Garrus' body once more as Shepard pressed a blanket to his face. His hand squeezed tight against her hand in pain.

"Come on, Garrus. Stay with me. I'm not losing you."

"Move over, Shepard." He heard Massani say next to her. "I've got more experience at this." His voice was steady. The voice of a veterian. The voice of one that knew what was needed. One that knew how this ended.

Garrus felt the man's hands on his face spreading soothing medi-gel over his wound. It was larger than he'd expected. Garrus felt the man's hands spread the cold gel over the length of his mandible and up onto his neck.

"Commander!" the other man spoke. "Shuttle's here!"

Garrus felt small yet powerful arms lift him up, one arm under his back the other under his thighs. Shepard was holding him up and close to her chest. Garrus looked at her, but was too numb to care that she wasn't wreathed in energy like she should've been.

"Where is it?" Shepard's voice still cracked with pain and grief.

"Out front Ma'am" The same man replied.

"Good." Shepard replied and moved over to the window.

"Shepard, What the hell… ?" Garrus heard Massani say. He was interrupted when Shepard stepped up onto the window ledge and dropped down. Garrus felt himself falling slowly in her arms, not the sudden crash of jumping like he expected.

"Come on Garrus. We're going home. Stay with me big guy. Stay with me."

Garrus tried but failed. He felt himself being lowered onto a flat surface just before he blacked out once more.

* * *

"Karin! Help him!" Shepard called out upon reaching the Normandy's medbay. She was once again carrying Garrus. He felt weightless in her arms.

Her pain was not physical, but it felt like it. Shepard felt as if a large part of her soul was slowly being torn from her body. With every faint breath Garrus drew it kept her hopes up that he would pull through. She knew though that it would be close. If anyone could save him Karin could.

"Put him over there." Karin said motioning towards a bed nearly next to the door. Shepard obeyed. She saw the table next to the bed was full of various medical equipment.

"Put this IV in him. I need to get something." Shepard mindlessly followed her orders. She whispered soothing words to Garrus, more for her benefit than his, he had passed out from the pain once on the shuttle.

Chakwas came back over to the bed, a box in her hands. Shepard's eyes widened at the biohazard symbol on it's side.

"Shepard go. I can't do this with you in here." Shepard didn't move.

"Katherine." Chakwas said. Shepard's eyes snapped to the elder woman's face away from Garrus' limp form.

"Go. I will save him but not with you here." Shepard nodded and left.

Once Shepard crossed the threshold, the door to the medbay sealed and locked behind her. Shepard felt numb. She had no idea what to do anymore. Her only hope was that Karin would be able to keep Garrus alive.

Shepard blanked her mind. She knew where her train of thought would go already from experience. Shepard didn't remember doing it but she found herself sitting on the floor next to the medbay door, back resting against the bulkhead. Shepard lost all sense of time, not allowing any thought into her mind other than her pleas to the divines.

"Hey." Shepard was too numb to be startled by Massani's voice, now filled with concern.

Shepard just started at him blankly. "Mind if I join you?" Massani asked, his tone soft.

Shepard nodded and Massani sat down next to her.

"You really care for him don't you?" Massani asked, his voice still uncharacteristically soft.

"More than I want to admit." Shepard replied her voice weak.

"I've met that Salarian you're looking for." Massani said, his voice gentler than Shepard thought possible. "He's a fantastic doctor. You'll need him."

Shepard just nodded not knowing what to say.

"Go back to Omega and get him. If anyone can help your Turian friend its him."

Shepard heard and accepted his words to be true, but she didn't move.

"I'll stay here Shepard. I'll keep watch and make sure nothing happens to him. If something does You'll be the first to know."

Shepard found her voice again. "Why are you doing this?" She asked, still numb from everything that had happened.

"You remind me of my niece. Her husband was killed by raiders. She became a shell of what she was."

"I couldn't save him." Shepard said, looking at the door.

"You're probably the only reason he's still alive Shepard." Massani stood and pulled her up with him.

"Go. Get Solus and bring him back here. I won't let anyone in long as I still draw breath."

"Thank you, Zaeed." Shepard said, her voice no longer the flat toneless voice it had been.

"Don't thank me yet, girl. Now go, your friend doesn't have all day."

Somehow Massani knew what she needed. Shepard had a goal. She had something to focus on. She still had a reason to go on. Her soul still felt as if it was being torn apart, but she had a way to fix it.

"EDI." Shepard called out upon stepping into the elevator. She pressed the button for the CIC.

"Yes Commander?" EDI's synthesized voice came over the elevator's speakers.

"No one other than me is to board or leave the ship until further notice." Shepard replied, her tone dark and serious.

"Understood Commander. Will there be anything else?"

"Send the fastest route to Mordin Solus' clinic to my omni-tool."

"Done." Shepard's omni-tool pinged at her.

"That will be all EDI."

"Logging you out Commander." Edi replied and the doors to the elevator opened.

Shepard strode out of the elevator and the ship with purpose, ignoring everyone on her way out.

* * *

"Where do you think you're goin' lady?" Shepard heard a Turian's voice in front of her, filled with annoyance.

"I'm going in there to get my stuff out before looters get it." An equally annoyed human woman replied.

Shepard found her way to the district Doctor Solus was supposed to be in blocked by Turian guard. A younger human woman, just into her twenties by the look of her, stood in front of the Turian, her back to Shepard.

"Not happenin' lady. District's sealed, Aria's orders." The Tuiran's voice gaining a slight edge to it.

"I'm human you ass! I can't get the plague! Let me get my stuff out!"

"What's going on here?" Shepard asked, a deadly edge in her voice.

"Turn around. Aria's had the district sealed 'til the plague is cured." The Turian replied ignoring the other human now.

"I'm going in there. Anyone gets in my way and I'll kill them. Including you." Shepard's eyes narrowed, daring the Turian to test her.

The Turian took a step back. A scarred human in full body armor wasn't something to mess with. That body armor having the N7 logo on it made it even more intimidating.

"Fine. I'll call ahead for the other guards to let you in." The turian replied, his sub-vocals held a tinge of fear.

"Your letting her in but not me? Fucking asshole!" The other woman replied, hate filling her voice.

"You're not an N7 lady. Get lost." The woman snorted and left. The Turian let Shepard through.

* * *

"I can't wait to get out of this shit hole. Don't understand way Tarak wants us to hold this place, I'd rather be helping kill Archangel." Shepard heard a Blue Suns merc just ahead of her say to his partner.

"Yeah. I want to put a bullet in that fucker's head. Killed my brother." The other Blue Suns merc replied.

Shepard quietly moved into cover. The mercs were too engrossed in their conversation to notice her. Anger filler her veins hearing the mercs words. Shepard felt primal power just under the surface of her mind. She prodded it and felt biotic energy spring into her arms. Instinctively she flicked her arms out in front of her. Before her azure glowing blades flared out and formed around her fists. She had used her biotics to power her limbs before, but she never imagined that that energy could be formed into biotic omni-blades.

Shepard heard the first merc speak again. "Yeah if I could, I would flay him alive. I'd slowly peel his plates off his body before…"

Shepard interrupted him with a primal rage filled yell. The mercs turned to look at her. She sprinted out from her cover. The mercs raised their weapons and fired. Shepard was on them just as the first burst caught her in the chest. Her shields flared but held. She lashed out with her blades. She caught the first merc under his jaw, the blade easily cut through his shields and armor killing him instantly. The other merc was caught in the chest. He wasn't lucky enough to be stabbed in the heart, Shepard missed by a air and instead caught his right lung.

Blind rage clouded Shepard's thought. Instead of simply killing him then and there she pulled her blade out of both mercs. She used each blade to lop off both of the merc's arms.

"Please!" The merc pleaded. "Don't make me suffer!"

Shepard glared at the merc, her steely gaze held nothing but the promise of death.

"Archangel is my friend." Shepard replied and left him there. She left him to bleed out alone and in slow agonizing pain.

She allowed her blades to fade. Exhaustion came over her in a crashing wave. Without practice she knew she couldn't do that often or for very long.

Shepard turned to keep following the path EDI had mapped out for her. She didn't get far before she heard a racking sobbing fit of coughs just ahead. Shepard moved to find the source.

There sitting on the ground, covered in his own blood, was a Batarian. Shepard moved closer to him and his coughing fit subsided. The Batarian noticed Shepard coming closer. When she came within arms reach the Batarian raised his arm, a Carnifex pistol loosely gripped in his weak hands, his finger on the trigger.

"Stay back human!" The Batarian wezzed out. "I'll.. I'll.." He was interrupted with another racking coughing fit.

Shepard knelt down next to him, ignoring the gun. She pulled up her Omni-tool and keyed up a medi-gel injection. She pressed her palm against the Batarians chest and injected the gel into him.

"It won't cure the plague." Shepard said standing up "But it'll help."

Th-thank you." He wezzed out.

"I'm going to the clinic. If they have a cure I'll have someone bring it to you." Shepard turned and started to leave.

"Wait!" The Batarian called out.

"You... You're the Demon. Why... Why would you help me?" He asked , the medi-gel helping him fight through the pain he must've been in.

Shepard looked at him, her eyes held no emotion in them. "Not even a Batarian deserves this. To die slow and alone to something you can't fight back is only fitting for a small group of people."

"Thank you. I owe you my life." The Batarian replied.

"Just remember. Some demons can be angels too." With that Shepard left, continuing towards the clinic.

* * *

Shepard had reached the clinic. The guards at the front desk directed her to a room in the back. As Shepard approached the room she heard a long winded stream of medical talk, it all sounded like nonsense to her.

Shepard came to a room with two humans and a Salarian standing over a panel of displays.

"Doctor Solus?" Shepard asked looking at the Salarian.

He was old for a Salarian and his appearance showed it. He looked both old with his decisions and yet young with his vibrancy. Shepard had read over his dossier several times. Mordin Solus was a former Salarian Special Tasks Group agent. Both a brilliant scientist and an expert infiltrator. Shepard knew that even after she got him to help Garrus he would be a useful asset.

"Hmmm?" the Salarian asked and turned to face her.

"Who are you? Merc? No, no district closed off. Guard? No same problem. Researcher here to use plague as Bio-weapon? No, no, no too heavily armed. Facial scarring suggests heavy cybernetics…"

Shepard raised a hand and interrupted him. "My name is Commander Shepard. I'm on a critical mission and I need your help."

Mordin turned back to his displays, typing something into the keyboard. "Mission? What mission? No. Must cure plague first."

"I need your help, Doctor. One of my friends is injured. You may be his best beat of living." Shepard allowed the sincerity of her words into her voice. She allowed her grief into too, though unintentional.

"Fine will help him." He leveled his omni-tool in her direction. "Bio signs show interesting readings. This friend close? Possible lover or mate?"

Shepard blushed. "He.." She was interrupted by the room going dark then red as backup lighting kicked on. Shepard could feel the air still. After living on ships most of her life Shepard knew what this meant.

"Doctor! What happened?" One of the humans, a woman, asked, fear in her voice.

"Not good, not good. Life support down, nearby Vorcha must have disabled it." Mordin turned back to Shepard.

"Have cure already made. Just need to be distributed. Take it and go to life support systems. Get it back on and put the cure into system. I will go with you when you return. Go don't have long."

Shepard nodded and left the room.

"EDI." Shepard said.

"Yes Commander?" EDI replied over her comes.

"Send me a route to the district life support, fastest route."

Her omni-tool pinged. "Completed."

Shepard began moving down the route EDI mapped out for her. She pulled out her Vindicator and held it at the ready.

"Thank you EDI. Let Chakwas know she will have some help soon."

"She has been notified Commander."

"ETA, back to the _Normandy_ two hours. Signing out."

* * *

Zaeed watched as Shepard approached him, a Salarian right on her heels.

"Here we are Mordin. Our doctor is aware you're coming." Shepard spoke to the Salarian.

"Zaeed. Let him in." He nodded and opened the door behind him.

Shepard turned away before she could get a glimpse inside. She did however, hear the steady beeps of medical equipment. Shepard knew them all too well. She allowed herself to smile at hearing the regular even beeping that should have been there. She allowed herself to hope.

"Shepard? You ok?" Zaeed asked.

"Yeah I'll be fine." She said and whipped away the tears that threatened to come forth.

"Go and get some sleep Shepard. You look like you need it. I'll keep watch 'til Chakwas says otherwise." Zaeed's tone was the same soft voice he used earlier.

"Thanks Zaeed. For everything."

"Don' mention it Shepard. You're the only one that can stop them guddamned reapers. If you fall apart, we all do." Shepard nodded at his words.

Shepard walked to the elevator.

"EDI. If anyone needs me tell them to wait six hours. Unless it's life or death it can wait."

"Understood Commander. Anything else?" EDI's smooth synthetic voice replied.

"Alert me as soon as Doctor Chakwas and Doctor Solus are done with Officer Vakarian. Other than that let me sleep."

"Understood Commander. Logging you out."

* * *

AN:

Oh man this was a hard chapter to write. The part that was hard wasn't the actual writing of it but that I came close to tears several times during this. I don't _like_ killing off characters and the fact that it felt like I was almost killing off one of my favorite characters out of everything (games, books, comicbooks, movies etc) was rough.

So I kinda lied in my last note. Turns out that what's going on in my Rift guild has actually given me _more_ time and not less. No clue as to how that happened but whatever.

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this. Please let me know if you did/didn't like it and if there's anything I could improve on.

Mega thanks for the follows, favorites and reviews! Even bigger thanks to two friends of mine from my guild. They provided some much needed insight and inspiration for this and previous chapters.

Not sure if I'm going to do Grunt or Jack's mission next, I've finally caught up to where I am in ME2 so I'll need to play through it again first. If any of you would like me to add one of them first over the other please let me know!

Alright I'm done rambling. Until next time!


	5. Chapter 5: Always

Chapter 5: Always

**_Disclaimer part_****_ 2:_** I don't own any music references mentioned in this story. I also still don't own Bioware or EA. I am still using all cannon characters for my own nefarious prepossess.

For the second time in just as many days Shepard found herself rudely awakened. This time in place of a shaking floor and explosions surrounding her it was the obnoxious invention called an alarm clock. Waking up with a splitting headache at the base of her skull didn't help the matter either. Shepard groggily turned off the alarm and sat up. Thankfully her clock started playing the soft sweet music that had been playing when she fell asleep. Shepard glared at the still harsh red glowing display on the night stand.

_0900? How did I over sleep?_ Shepard thought her mind still slow and groggy.

"EDI." Shepard called out over the female singer that had begun singing.

_Huh, didn't think many people knew my music tastes. Least they knew I liked Evanescence._

"Yes Commander?" EDI replied. Shepard winced at the loud noise of EDI's voice. Biotic headaches, like the one Shepard had, tended to be like hangovers just you knew what you did yesterday to make yourself hate life.

"Two things, why did you let me oversleep by four hours? And what is the status of Officer Vakarian?" Shepard asked, rubbing her hands over her face.

"Doctor Chakwas asked that I let you sleep until you woke up on your own. Officer Vakarian is currently in stable condition." EDI paused.

"Doctor Chakwas has just informed me that you are allowed to come and see him if you like. He is not yet awake again. He had regained consciousness three hours, twenty eight minutes and thirty four point eight seconds ago, before falling asleep."

"Thank you EDI. Please inform Doctor Chakwas that I will be down in about a half hour."

Shepard stood from the bed and stripped out of her undersuit. She had neglected to take it off before crashing the night before. She had barely the energy to take off her armor, it's pieces scattered around the cabin were a testament to that.

Shepard turned her stereo's volume up to maximum and made her way to the shower. A long hot shower always help her headaches before so she figured it should still help now. The fact that she smelled worse than the Augean stables before Heracles came along was besides the point.

When Shepard left her shower she found a tray piled high with various breakfast foods on her desk. Her stomach growled loudly, the rest of her was on full alert. To her this was still a Cerberus ship and few had proven themselves to be trustworthy. Shepard relaxed her stance upon seeing the back of a head of red hair on the other side of the low wall separating her desk from the rest of the room.

"Kelly? What are you doing here?" Shepard asked looking over the tray of food.

Kelly turned around from her place on the couch and smiled at Shepard. "Good morning Shepard." She replied. Kelly had stopped calling her Katherine the day before, she had said something about it not feeling right.

"Doctor Chakwas asked me to bring you up some breakfast. She also insisted that I make sure you actually eat something." Shepard felt Kelly's eyes on her as she bit into a piece of bacon. Shepard looked up from her food to see Kelly taking in Shepard's nude from.

Shepard raised an eyebrow at the other woman. "What? Never seen another woman without clothes before?"

Kelly's musical laugh filled the cabin. Shepard finally noticed that the music had been turned down to quiet background noise.

"No. No, I've seen plenty of other women naked before. You're just… different."

"Oh?" Shepard asked, a hint of playfulness in her serious tone. "How so?"

"I just more expected you to be more muscular and less…. feminine. Less scars too."

Shepard snorted. "So you expected me to be more a marine, less a gymnast? Are you saying you didn't read my history?"

"I read it." Kelly replied almost offended. "There was nothing to indicate…"

"Relax Kelly, just pulling your chain." Shepard shoved a biscuit into her mouth.

"I spent four years in the Ascension Project, the biotic version of high school." She continued around a mouth of food. "In the project there were normal sports. Gymnastics helped control my biotics better."

Shepard moved over to the closet in the corner by her bed. Shepard didn't care that it gave Kelly a full view of her. Boot camp had quickly beat any shyness of her body out of her.

"So I need to ask." She said opening up the closet. "Who picked out my wardrobe? I mean look at this thing." Shepard held out an orange/brown jumpsuit. It had been popular back on earth two years ago, even back then it looked ridiculous.

Shepard tossed it to the floor and heard Kelly struggling to not laugh. She reached back in and pulled out a cerberus uniform. She placed it on the bed and reach back in to pull out a set of underwear.

"Hell, only reason I'll wear that godforsaken uniform is 'cause I have nothing else."

Shepard heard Kelly rise from the couch. "Since I see you are actually eating and fully awake I'll head back to the CIC. I'll be there if you need me."

"See ya Kelly." Shepard replied over her shoulder.

* * *

Garrus groaned as he felt himself being pulled back into the waking world by an intense burning pain covering the right side of his face. He moved his hand up to feel along his mandible where the pain seemed to originate. He was shocked to find his hand meeting a soft resistance on his face.

His eyes snapped open only to be shut once more against the harsh bright light of the room he was in. His senses were on high alert. Garrus took a tentative sniff, for Turians sent was almost as good for seeing as eyes were. Garrus relaxed when he smelled the familiar scent of a doctor he had come to know. Over the time he has spent as part of Shepard's crew he had come to be quite familiar with the lavender scent of Doctor Chakwas.

Garrus tensed up once more when he heard the tell tale swoosh of the doors opening, followed by a nearly overpowering scent of flowers. Garrus forced himself to relax as to not give himself away, that task was made easier when a voice flooded over his senses.

"I see sleeping beauty is awake. How's he doing doc?" Shepard voice was music to his ears.

"He'll be fine. I'd like to keep him here for another day or so to make sure the cybornetics took. Otherwise he'll be fit for duty soon. Turians are more resilient than I had thought." Doctor Chakwas replied. Garrus felt Chakwas move to his side. He sighed in relief when the pressure on his mandible eased, the bandages now gone.

Garrus opened his eyes. He was greeted by the smiling form of his best friend standing at the end of his bed.

"All there Garrus? Any gaps I should know of? Any new revelations on life and all that other bullshit that comes with near death experiences?" Shepard voice was light.

Garrus chuckled. "No I've had my share of those back on the _Normandy_." Garrus cringed in pain. "Talking hurts though. How is it? Doubt Chakwas will give me a mirror."

Shepard chuckled and moved over to his right side. Her gaze lingered on the scarred area reviled by the bandages.

"Hell, you were always ugly Garrus. Just slap some face paint on there and no one will even notice." Shepard replied her face breaking into a wide grin.

Garrus chuckled and winced again. "I figured you needed a better chance with the Asari, you had a hell of a time before with me around all the time."

Shepard replied with a light smack to his shoulder.

"Besides" He continued. "I hear some women like men with scars. Granted most of them are Krogan." Garrus replied his tone light and easy, almost teasingly so.

"You never know Garrus. Get a few more and you might find out just who it is that really likes them." Shepard replied, her voice a teasing, almost a promising, tone.

Garrus was at a loss for words. Shepard's laugh, almost a giggle, told him that his face showed it. She turned to look at Chakwas.

"Keep him here doc. He tries to move feel free to put him down, hard." Shepard narrowed her eyes at Garrus.

Chakwas chuckled. "Will do Shepard. I'll let you know if anything happens."

"I'll talk to ya later Garrus. Got some things to take care of before we leave Omega in the dust." Shepard turned and left the door, a slight teasing swing to her hips.

Garrus was still at a loss for the noise that had come from her. Never in his life did he ever think Shepard capable of such a girlish thing as a giggle.

"Did…" Garrus stammered to Chakwas. "Did she really just…"

Chakwas chuckled again. Garrus saw the wide grin on the elder woman's face that she was trying, and failing, to hide.

* * *

"Joker." Shepard spoke after clearing the _Normandy's_ decontamination cycle. She walked into the cockpit.

"Shepard." Joker replied, Shepard saw the man's nose wrinkle in disgust. "Damn Commander, you smell like…"

"I rolled around in a sewer for a few years?" Shepard cut him off. "Yeah try being me right now. Even took a shower this morning. Omega is _that_ disgusting."

"Not my exact words but pretty close."

"Set us a coarse for Korlus. I want us there as fast as possible." Shepard commanded, her patience for Omega had long since run out.

"On it." Joker replied, typing furiously at his console. "ETA to Korlus eight hours."

"Thanks Joker. Need anything from me before I leave you to your digital women?" Shepard asked, her voice almost serious.

"Hey! That only happened once!" Joker replied in defence. Shepard thought she could hear a muttered "that you know of".

"Uh huh, sure it did." Shepard turned to start leaving. Joker wasn't done just yet it seemed.

"So we got Garrus back too!" Shepard froze. "That's great! Cause he was totally my favorite. With that pole up his ass." Shepard knew he was trying to make a joke, but his words struck a nerve Shepard didn't know she had.

"Tread lightly Joker. If you were anyone else you'd be out the airlock." Shepard left not giving the man a chance to respond.

* * *

Garrus was awakened from his light sleep by the sound of the med bay's door opening. His eyes snapped open and gazed at Shepard as she walked into the room. Garrus felt his stomach growl at him upon seeing she was carrying a tray of food.

"Good you're up. Chow time big guy." Shepard said, her face a light in a smile.

"Thanks Shepard, feels like forever since I had anything." He replied when she set the tray on his lap.

"Karin." Shepard looked over the the matronly woman sitting at her desk. "You mind if I steal Garrus in a few hours?"

Chakwas looked up at Shepard from a data pad she was reading. "So long as he isn't doing anything too straining. He's healing fine and the cybernetics haven't been rejected."

"Good." Shepard replied and looked back to Garrus. "I've got a Krogan to save in about seven hours. You up for keeping an eye on my six?"

Garrus snorted and swallowed his mouthful of food. "Is that really a question Shepard? I told you before, I'll always have your back." His mandibles flared into a smile of his own.

Shepard's smile widened. "Good. Meet me in the shuttlebay in six and a half hours."

"I'll see you in six hours then."

* * *

"Alright! We're three minutes out from the LZ." Shepard spoke breaking the silence that had filled the shuttle moments before. "Double check your gear. This'll likely a hot area not long after we touch down."

Shepard ran through her own check list as Garrus and Zaeed did the same. Shepard nodded to herself after double checking that everything was working.

"So what are we getting into here Shepard?" Garrus asked having completed his own routine.

"Oh just the usual stuff Garrus. Go in, kill some Blue Suns mercs and then get a dangerous Krogan to join our cause. You know, same old same old." Shepard's tone was light her mouth turned up in a small smile.

Garrus huffed and looked out the port viewscreen. "Why do you never take me anywhere nice? A topical planet would be welcomed every now and then. The whole 'barren wasteland' thing is starting to get old."

Shepard's laugh filled the shuttle. "Alright Garrus. I'll make it up to you. When we stop at the Citadel I'll get you the Turian equivalent of a steak dinner."

Garrus' mandibles flared into a grin. "How 'bout we make it more interesting?"

Shepard leaned forward in her seat, eyes almost sparkling. "What do you have in mind?"

"I beat that at the end of this I'll have more kills than you. If I win you have to go all out on that dinner. Fancy restaurant, nice clothes, the whole nine yards. You win and I'll do the same."

"Loading the game in my favor Garrus. How 'bout Zaeed's counts as your's too?" Shepard replied her voice the same light tone Garrus remembered from the night before Illos.

"Oh come on that's no fun." Garrus replied in mock hurt. "You need to beat me by at least ten to win."

"Deal." She replied chuckling. Garrus stretched his arm out towards Shepard. Shepard clasped his forearm and shook it.

Garrus heard Zaeed's roaring gruff laughter. "This'll be bloody fun watchin' you two." Shepard replied with a laugh of her own.

Garrus felt the subtle shift of the shuttle slowing to a stop then begin to slowly drop. Shepard stood up across from him. She hit the release on the door. The roar of the planet's winds filled his ears.

"Try and keep up you two." Shepard said flashing one last grin at Garrus. She released her helmet and it sealed around her head. Before either Garrus or Zaeed knew what was happening, Shepard backed to the edge of the shuttle, spread her arms out and fell backwards.

"Shepard!" Garrus yelled out in alarm and rushed to the open door. When he leaned over the edge, Garrus saw Shepard's form alight in azure energy slowly falling to the ground. Garrus watched her lightly touch down on the dusty ground below and his tense body relaxed.

Shepard's laugh came over the team's com system. "Oh my God, Garrus. If you could see your face right now."

Garrus shook his head. "Not funny Shepard. Never do that again."

"I'll make sure we're clear here." Shepard replied, her voice still broken with barely contained laughter.

The shuttle was only a few meters off the ground now. Garrus lept out as well, is long powerful legs absorbing the shock of landing with ease. Garrus started to followed Shepard through the maze of metal scrap and pieces of ship hulls.

"Not letting you get a head start Shepard." Garrus pulled his Mantis off his back and looked down it's scope. He quickly swept the area ahead with the scope. He found a Blue Suns merc in his sights after only a second.

Garrus pulled the trigger. He watched with sumg satisfaction as the merc's head exploded like a can of tomatoes. "Scoped and dropped!" Garrus called out. "Falling behind already Shepard!"

"Oh sure! You get a head start but not me? I see how it is Garrus." Shepard replied and Garrus moved to catch up with Shepard, Zaeed right on his heels.

"EDI, put up a kill counter on our HUDs." Shepard spoke into the com to the team and ship. She pulled her Tempests off her thigh clamps.

As soon as the words left her mouth a small indicator appeared in his visor. All three of their names were listed with a number next to them. Garrus smiled smugly at Shepard when it showed the only kill being his.

"Laugh it up while ya can big guy. Won't last for long." Garrus' eyes snapped away from Shepard's. He had thought he saw something in his peripheral vision. His visor displayed a racing heart rate in the area he saw the movement.

Garrus locked eyes with Shepard again. He made quick hand signals she'd taught him on the _SR-1._

_Contact. On your eight._

His visor displayed four more heart beats rapidly approaching.

_Four incoming. On your five._

Shepard nodded. Garrus couldn't see her face but knew from experience and her slightly tensed body that it was back into the mask of unfeeling she wore in combat. Never the less she continued as if nothing happened.

"By the end of this I'll force you to keep our end of the deal." Shepard gripped her Tempests tighter.

"Maybe I'll even make you take me to some fancy party." Garrus saw a blue helmeted head pop out from around the metal plate the merc was using as cover. In one smooth motion Garrus raised his Mantis, sighted the head and squeezed. The counter on his visor changed his number to two.

Garrus heard Shepard shout as she spun around. A blue wave of energy flung out from her arms, rushing towards the incoming Blue Suns mercs were knocked off their feet. Garrus sighted one of them. The merc was dead before he hit the ground, a round clear through his heart. Garrus heard the crack of Zaeed's own rifle, another merc didn't get up.

Garrus tried sighting another of the two remaining mercs. His vision was blocked by azure light and then Shepard's head. The merc she had slammed into went flying, her body stopped when she hit a wall and smeared into it. The quick steady pops of Shepard's Tempests could barely be heard above the roar of her biotic charge. The last merc dropped the the dusty ground, his chest full of small bleeding bullet holes.

"Catching up already Garrus!" Shepard called out. Garrus looked at the kill counter.

_Shepard: 2 Vakarian: 3 Massani: 1_

"Won't last for long Shepard."

* * *

"Why do people always want a Krogan army?" Garrus asked. He looked over his shoulder at the lone Krogan watching them from the top of the ramp.

"No clue." Shepard replied. " You'd think people would learn after we blew up that base on Virmir."

Shepard's body tensed. Few knew Shepard's tells. Even fewer could see them under her armor. Garrus laid a hand on Shepard's shoulder. At some point in their time on the _SR-1_ Shepard and Garrus stopped needing words to speak to one another. Shepard knew what he was trying to say.

_We're not there anymore. It's over. You did the best you could._ Shepard knew he meant all this in that simple gesture.

Shepard nodded to Garrus. _Yeah. I know._

Her body relaxed. _Thanks_.

Garrus gave her a nod of his own. _Always._

He squeezed her shoulder. He squeezed just hard enough that she could feel it through her armor. _I'm here for you. Always._

"Come on." Shepard broke the silence that had settled over the group. "I'm starting to fall behind." Shepard trotted off, Vindicator at the ready. Garrus looked at the counter again.

_Shepard: 16 Vakarian: 18 Massani: 12_

Massani's gruff chuckle broke the silence again. "So you two are…" He trailed off.

"Are what?" Garrus asked cluelessly. The two men started to move to catch up to Shepard.

"Oh man. You are and you don't even know." Massani's roaring laughter filled the air.

"Massani!" Shepard's harsh voice cracked over the com. "Shut up. I don't want to be able to hear you cackling with my coms off."

"An' she even uses one way coms!' Massani's laughter filled the air again, this time more subdued. "Oh this'll be the best show I'll ever see."

Garrus looked at the other man in utter confusion. He had absolutely no idea if Massani was just insane or there was something he was missing. He decided on the former when he heard gunfire not far off.

* * *

"So." Garrus said once Shepard had finished radioing in their pick up. "I'm not sure which is worse. The dead warlord's science experiment, or that you beat me by exactly ten kills."

Shepard looked at Garrus, an expression of mock hurt on her face. "Hey! I promise I won't make it too humiliating. Just enough to remind you to never bet against me."

"Right." Garrus replied, rolling his eyes. "Next thing I know you'll be making me tell my darkest secrets to Joker."

Massani's laugh grinded against Garrus' ears. "Now that's something I'd pay to see." Shepard shot Massani's back a withering glare.

"I may be cruel but even that's a stretch."

"HA! The queen of the girl scouts? Cruel? Now that's new."

"Just go and look out for the shuttle Massani." Shepard said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Alrigh', alrigh' I'm goin'." Massani replied holding up his hands and walked away.

Once Massani was out of earshot Garrus turned back to Shepard. "If anything Shepard, I should've known better." Garrus almost felt like he was deflating, the adrenaline in his veins thinning out. Shepard looked at him with concern.

"But hey, at least it's something I might enjoy. Telling Joker some of the things I've done…" Garrus shuddered. "I'd rather be pushed out an airlock than do that."

Garrus started mentally kicking himself, he still didn't know if the whole "almost suffocating to death then slamming into a planet" was painful to her or not.

"Shepard I…" Garrus started stumbling over his words. Shepard held up her hand. To his surprise she was smiling and shaking her head.

"It's fine Garrus. You won't think it but I actually remember what it was like being dead. It was weird but I accepted it. It'll take a lot more than that to hurt me. Even more coming from you."

Garrus let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. He visibly relaxed. "Thanks Shepard. You don't know what that means." Shepard gave him an inquiring look through her visor. "To me." He added hastily.

"I mean it Garrus. You are the person I trust most in the 'verse. Not even Tali or my mother come close."

Garrus felt something in the pit of his stomach stir at her words.

_No. She can't know what that means. Only turians could know._ Garrus felt his heart hammering in his chest.

"Thanks Shepard." His voice felt and sounded rough and scratchy. His subvocals trying to convey what he didn't want known.

He cleared his throat. _What the hell. She won't think anything of it._

"Know that you're the same with me." His voice was back to normal, but just barely. He didn't trust his voice more than that.

Shepard's eyes gleamed at him. He knew that if he could she her face, there would be a wide grin plastered across it.

"Thanks buddy." She replied. Garrus couldn't tell if it as a harmless reply, or her politely asking him to go back into, what had Kaiden called it? the friend-zone? Either way Garrus didn't mind, his world was just fine as long as he had her six.

The comfortable silence that had settled over them had lasted only a moment before it was broken by the sound of the shuttle's engines.

"Alright. Enough slouching around." Shepard's eyes changed from the pits of warmth and peace back to their 'business as usual' look.

"So." Garrus coughed and nodded at the tank next to them. "How are we getting that thing onto the ship?"

Shepard chuckled. "Watch and learn." Shepard walked to the front of the tank holding the massive tank-bred Krogan, her entire body alight with the familiar azure glow.

Shepard grunted as she lifted the massive tank, like it was nothing more than an extremely heavy box. Garrus felt his eyes widen and strain the edges of his plates.

"Gonna need you to guide me here big guy. Can't really see around this thing."

Garrus just stood there, dumbfounded.

"Sometime today would be nice. Biotics and cybornetics or not this thing is bloody fucking heavy."

* * *

"Absolutely not!" Miranda shouted and slammed her hand onto the conference table. Garrus scowled at the woman. He had only spent a few brief moments in her company and already hated her.

"We at least had some idea of what Okeer was like. This tank bred of his is a complete unknown." Fury rolled of the Cerberus operative in waves.

To his surprise Shepard was still sitting in her own chair next to him at the head of the table. She was still leaning back in the chair, her booted feet propped up on the table. Shepard's face gave away nothing. She looked completely unimpressed by Miranda's outburst. When she had told of her plan to "birth" the Krogan, she acted like it was the most normal thing in the universe. To be fair though, for Shepard it was pretty close to normal.

"You done?" Shepard asked, her voice flat and unimpressed and raised an eyebrow at the other woman. "No?" She replied for her.

"Good, because I really don't care. You are forgetting who it is you're talking to or you're forgetting most of what had to be in my psyche profile. Either way it doesn't change the fact that I'm going to open that tank. I don't need your approval."

"When The Illusive Man hears about this…" Miranda replied, her voice still filled with fury.

"He'll agree with me." Shepard cut her off. She took her boots off the table and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "I have yet to be proven wrong when I follow my instincts. And my instincts are telling me to open that tank."

Shepard stood, Garrus stood with her. "Unless you can come up with a valid reason to not wake the Krogan in our hold, you're dismissed."

Miranda turned around and stormed out the door. Shepard looked at the other occupant of the room.

"Anything from you Mister Taylor?" Shepard asked, her tone much less harsh than what she had used on Miranda.

"No Ma'am." He replied. "I think it's a good idea. We could use another heavy hitter for the ground team."

Shepard nodded accepting the response. "Thank you mister Taylor. Dismissed." Jacob saluted and left the room.

"Come on Garrus." Shepard turned to him, her tone light almost jumpy. "Shall we go and become parents to a fully grown killing machine of a Krogan?"

Garrus laughed. "Is that really a question?"

"No. Just giving you an out if you want it. No need for your face to get any more mangled than it already is." She started leaving the room.

Garrus snorted and followed her. "The same could be said for you Shepard. At least I'm still good looking by Turian standards."

Shepard's light laughter was her only response and like music to his ears.

* * *

Garrus sensed that something was wrong before he heard the loud bellowing roar. Shepard had asked him to stand guard outside the door and make sure no one came in. When he heard the roar and subsequent crash of Shepard's body into the bulkhead. Garrus unslung his Vindicator and slammed his fist onto the door controls. The door took an agonizingly slow time opening.. Garrus could hear the deep rumble of a Krogan's voice on the other side of the door, but couldn't quite make out what the voice was saying.

The door opened and Garrus leveled his rifle at the back of the white plated Krogan. He froze however when he saw Shepard. She was pinned up against the bulkhead, the Krogan's arm against her chest and keeping her lifted at least a foot off the floor. Despite how it looked like the Krogan was in full control of the situation and Shepard, it was quite the opposite. Shepard's face and eyes were steel and she was staring the Krogan down. Garrus had seen Shepard use the same face and stare on Wrex, even then he was impressed that the old warlord backed down from it.

"I am Grunt." The deep steady voice of the Krogan reached his ears. "If you are worth of your command, prove your strength and try to destroy me."

"Okeer's imprint has failed." The Krogan continued, either oblivious or ignoring the Turian scent that must have come into the room. "His enemies are not my own. Without reason that is my own, one fight is as good as any other. Might as well start with you."

Garrus froze at seeing Shepard's hand move from her side to behind her. He knew she had something up her sleeve but couldn't figure out what.

"Fight for me then." Shepard replied, her tone calm and steely at the same time. "I have a strong ship and a strong crew, a strong clan. You would make it stronger."

"If your enemies are weak or you make weak commands, I will kill you."

"My enemies are strong, no doubt about that." Her voice spoke only facts.

"Hmmp. That is acceptable. I will fight for you. For now."

"Good choice." Shepard replied, for the first time Garrus saw the Tempest in Shepard's hand. It was pointed at "Grunt's" chin.

The Krogan released her and laughed. "Well played, Shepard. Offer up one hand but arm the other."

The Krogan nodded and backed away. Shepard lowered her Tempest and moved towards the door and Garrus. The Krogan's voice stopped her.

"If I find a clan. I will be honored to eventually pit them up against you." The Krogan turned his head towards Garrus and sneered. The Krogan's icey blue eyes held nothing but hate for Garrus.

"And your mate." The Krogan continued. The door shut behind Shepard and Garrus once they left.

"Seriously? My mate? What is with everyone thinking you and I are a thing?" Shepard turned her gaze towards Garrus, one eyebrow raised in question.

"No idea." Garrus coughed. "For him it may be that he thinks it based off of smell. Turians in combat give off very similar scents to when close to their family."

Shepard snorted.

"It's a defensive thing. As much as we want to claim it, Turians still have a lot of resemblances to our animal counterparts."

"Good." Shepard replied her tone just ever so teasing. "It'd be weird if it turned out my best friend had a crush on me and not the balls to tell me so." Shepard walked away.

"See you later big guy." Shepard waved over her shoulder.

Once she was safely out of earshot, Garrus let out a deep breath.

"Yep, definitely weird."

* * *

AN:

So it took a bit longer than i thought for me to catch up to this point in my play through, but I finally finished this mission and this chapter. While it's not as long as I'd like it to be it feels like I'm stopping at the right point.

Next up, Kasumi, Her mission and Zaeed's mission will be touched on. So long as I can do all those in a timely manner I should have the next chapter up in two weeks.

As always, thanks for the views, favorites and follows. Hope you all enjoy this! Until next time!


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